Horizons
by Valoja
Summary: While investigating mysterious cases of people going missing and mangled bodies showing up days later, Lee unintentionally gets sucked into the world of demons and devils. Can she protect herself in this new, dangerous side of the universe, or is she going to need a certain Devil Hunter to save the damsel in distress in her? Dante x OC. Songs by Feint.
1. Lonesong

Snow was floating about, dusting everything with its innocent whiteness. Winter had barely even arrived and the tiny snowflakes were already eager to make an appearance.

Capturing a cigarette between her lips, Lee held her hand over an invisible lighter as if to stop the wind from blowing the flame out as she seemingly lit the stick. Pretending to inhale the smoke, she looked down to watch the snow land on the pile of flesh lying on the ground, slowly becoming red as it did.

She let out a sigh as though she were blowing the smoke out again and squatted down next to the body, her eyes scanning what was left of what used to be a beautiful woman. Remaining patches of blonde hair, mascara mixed with blood and what looked like a semi-devoured hand clutching a pink phone might have been enough to send any normal person running for a trash can, but not Lee.

Her partner and one of the few people willing to put up with her quirks, however, stood a few steps back. He was pinching his nose and looked away while trying his best not to gag.

"James, what do you think?" Lee asked him without looking away from the corpse. Chunks of meat were missing, as if an animal had eaten from it, but there were no animals in the city that had teeth nearly as big as this woman's torso.

"I think that you're an insane person for taking such an interest in a case like this," the young boy replied with a nasal voice.

"But you already know that, don't you?" she retorted as she pushed the remains of the jacket aside with a gloved hand, finding it gripping how there was more clothing than body left. As if something had knocked her out before eating her, careful to take in as little cloth as possible. Like picking olives from a pizza because they tasted horrible.

Lee watched as a group of police agents appeared at the scene, one of them joining James to ask him some questions while the other came to take photos of the corpse. He didn't talk to her so she took the liberty of running the case through her mind, trying to get a clearer picture of what was going on.

This was already the fourth victim within a time span of thirty-four days. There was no obvious connection between them, except for the fact that they were all the kind of people who liked to hang out when it was dark outside, and the pattern of their deaths.

First they'd go missing for a few days; that was why the police were being much more careful with reports of people disappearing. The first thing they'd ask was whether or not the person in question had been out during the night, if no, then they'd pass it along to someone lower on the food chain, if yes then they'd add it to the possible victims of this killer.

It never took more than five days until the bodies would be found again, looking as if someone had eaten them. So far, Lee didn't have any clues as to who or what was doing it, but she almost found herself wondering whether this was the work of something, or someone, inhuman.

The officer who had joined her with the body to take pictures threw a glance at her that told her that he deemed her ability to remain longer than should be possible with this stinking and rotting corpse rather unsettling. She was used to the curious gazes of bystanders and didn't care for them, though. She merely waited for them to leave her be so she could do her damn job and that was exactly what she did in this moment, making it as obvious as possible that she was waiting impatiently for the cop to leave her alone with the cadaver.

When he finally did return to his partner and James, who were watching Lee doing her thing once again now that the only living thing inside her personal space bubble was she herself, she continued her investigation.

The pockets of the jacket were empty. What caught her attention most was that this woman didn't have a purse or wallet on her, no ways of identification, no money. She would remain unnamed, a Jane Doe, until they managed to give her back her proper name, of which chances were pretty slim if she hadn't been signed up as missing before the showing up of her body.

For Lee, however, the missing wallet in its whole was more interesting than the fact that she didn't know Jane's real name. Nobody went out anymore without a credit card or cash, and an ID. Seeing as how all Jane's pockets were empty, that meant that the murderer had taken them; but why, if it seemed to be some monstrous animal that had found her to be a delicious meal? It was a sign of robbery, or just of the ability to think about one's acts, which was something that an animal couldn't do.

Or maybe it had just swallowed it by accident when eating at the rest of Jane's body.

No - it had avoided the clothes at all costs. To gain access to the wallet, it would have had to dig through them without destroying them.

Or she had used a handbag in which she kept her belongings, which she had dropped when she had gotten attacked.

But then why the phone in her hand?

Probably talking to a friend.

But after prying it from her limp grip and scrolling through its data, Lee found that she hadn't called anyone since two weeks ago - which would have been too long for the suspected killer's modus operandi. The last text, too, dated from around the same time. Then what had she been doing on her phone?

She had_ wanted _to call someone. Who, then? And why exactly at the time of attack? Coincidence, or had she felt it coming?

Lee continued rummaging through Jane's clothes, patting around for any pockets she might have missed. Before calling it a disappointing day, she lifted Jane's shirt as well, and then checked her bra. Indeed, as she had almost expected, there was piece of paper crumbled inside, squashed against Jane's still, palish blue breast.

It seemed as though she had shoved it in there hastily and when Lee unfolded it, she wasn't even surprised by what was written on it. It used to be some sort of business card, with a company name, the company's address and phone number printed on it. This one seemed rather sloppily-made, though, and she mentally shook her head at the cheapness of it.

Mentally because she was already too absorbed in reenacting the crime inside her mind. An alley, just like the one she was sitting in, appeared before her, though it was darker. Night, of course.

Jane happened to be walking through it, either returning home or on her way to a wild night, when she heard a noise from somewhere behind her. She turned around, but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary. Still, with those kidnappings and murders she had heard about in the news at the back of her head, she pulled her phone out of her pants or her handbag, as well as the business card. She started typing the number into her cell, but it was already too late - she got pounced by the attacker. Somehow she still managed to hide the card into her bra, almost as though she hadn't wanted the murderer to find it. Well, he hadn't, and thanks to that nifty little trick Lee finally had a lead to follow.

Still - why had Jane wanted to call _Devil May Cry_ and what did this company have to do with the case?

It was time to pay someone a visit.


	2. Against the Grain

Standing in front of this building, Lee frowned at the business card that she was holding in her palm. The address was right, but then why did it look like a bar instead of the office of a company? Well, the card had looked rather cheap, too. It wouldn't surprise her if this all happened to be a ruse for the killer to hide behind if need be. Not that she was going to make any conclusions without evidence.

James stood next to her, rocking back and forth on his feet, obviously nervous.

"Did you really have to come all the way out here to question this person?" he asked for the umpteenth time that day as he looked over his shoulder just in case someone might be lurking about, ready to empty his pockets or even kill him without him ever noticing.

"Yes," was the only response Lee gave him. She always preferred a face-to-face interrogation, people finding it much easier to lie their way out of things when she couldn't see their stupid heads. How she hated simple-minded people, petty enough to sink to the level of crime instead of earning their lives the legal way.

Without waiting to listen to his whining again, Lee checked the business card one last time before crossing the street, first looking left and then right even though she hadn't heard any cars coming, to get to the building. After avoiding the cracks on the pavement, she climbed up the short stair case.

_One._

_Two._

_Three.  
_

She turned and re-counted the amount of steps, making sure she had gotten the correct amount, before walking over to the front door. All the while, James, who had already arrived at the front door, waited patiently for her. He knew that if he interrupted her doing "her thing", as he liked to call it, she would have to start all over again.

"Come in!" was called from the other side of the door before Lee had even managed to raise her hand and knock. She shared a glance with James, who merely shrugged and gestured for her to do "her thing" again.

After patting all the pockets she had on her - two front pockets, two back pockets, two coat pockets - she opened the door and stepped inside, immediately beginning to eye her surroundings as she did so.

It looked absolutely horrible. Dirty, furnished by an amateur, empty yet disorganised, and sombre... Lee couldn't believe a business like this managed to not go bankrupt immediately. At least that explained the cheap-looking card. Pizza boxes were scattered everywhere, the desk standing at the back hurt her eyes with its littered top, the carpet wasn't put down properly with edges tucked beneath itself and - worst of all - the... paintings or whatever they were hanging on the wall - slanting.

_Slanting_.

And, possibly even worse, the tiles were designed just so that a foot didn't fit into one of the decoration circles.

How could anybody live, or just work, in a place like this?

"Ya done examining the goods?" the apparent owner of this horror house whom Lee hadn't noticed yet asked her, tilting his head to the side as he, in turn, examined her, his eyes filled with amusement as he did so. He sat at his desk, his feet resting on top of it with his arms behind his head.

The _dirty_ desk.

Her fingers started itching at the sight of all this chaos and James couldn't help but let out a groan. The place they had to visit just had to look like this, didn't it? The two of them were never going to get out of here anytime soon.

Shaking her head and trying to concentrate on the case again, Lee took a few large strides towards this white-haired man and his desk - his _obnoxious_ desk - while fingering the business card, which she then slammed down on the stained surface when she arrived there.

The owner of this abomination of a building picked it up gingerly, almost sad at the way she had treated it, and looked it over. "Yes, what's with it? You want a new one? This one looks awfully... used. Unfortunately for you, missy, I ran out just this morning so you'd-"

He stopped talking when Lee practically shoved a photograph into his face. His eyes wandered over the surface in confusion, wondering what he was supposed to do with this, when suddenly his face scrunched up as realisation dawned upon him. "What the hell is _that_?"

"That, mister, would be a victim of a killer we are desperately trying to capture. And she, _unfortunately_ _for you_, had your business card on her body when we found her. Care to explain this?" Lee replied in a heartbeat as her hands busied themselves with the magazines and such that were scattered across _the_ desk.

The white-haired man pulled his feet down and put them back on the ground, all the while staring at her in disbelief. Yet at the same time she managed to find a hint of humour in his eyes. Did he think this was a joke? "Whoa whoa whoa there, babe! Are you saying you're suspecting me of having done this?!"

"Please don't refer to me as 'babe'. And all I'm saying is that we're desperate and this has already been the fourth murder and we need something, _anything_, that can help us move forward," she responded and with a feeling of relief she finished structuring the magazines and books into neat stacks on the desk.

"May I first ask on exactly which body part she had my card?" he asked as he leaned forward again, this time on his elbows with his head in his hands.

Lee shot him a dangerous glare, to which he reacted by holding his hands in the air. "May a man not ask such a question around here?"

"It's none of your business where we found it, just answer the damn question," she growled, her irritation growing with every additional second she spent in this man's presence.

"No answer is also an answer, isn't it?" he retorted with a wide grin. "And I don't remember even being asked a question in the first place. I say you answer my question and I'll reply to your... _claim_."

Lee heaved a sigh, running a hand through her hair. She already deeply regretted not taking up James's offer of just calling him. Though she doubted that would have helped her, to be honest.

"She had hidden it in her bra. Now tell me, do or do you not admit to being the perpetrator?" She frowned as the man who was obviously a pervert punched the air as some kind of celebration.

"Wait. You keep referring to this case as a murder, but this picture at least seems to be show a victim of some kind of animal," the suspect retorted rather suddenly.

Lee's hands fell still and she hesitated for a moment before answering. She couldn't pull back now, claiming it to be a hunch, but she wasn't quite sure that she should tell this to a suspect. Still, when she thought about it, what could actually happen if she were to explain it to him? If he were to kill her now, her boss and colleagues would know what happened, and she'd like to see him try, too. She had to force her hand to not rest on top of her holstered gun at the thought of that. Somehow, his blue eyes landed on her hand, anyway, and his lips formed another one of those annoying grins.

A glance towards James, who had been silent this whole time, told Lee that he thought the same, and so she began to lay out her theory.

"It all seems too calm and collected to be done by some beast. Sure, I got put on the case when it was still considered to be a 'raccoon problem', but the only thing that actually points to animals is the fact that the corpses are half-eaten. But clothes are almost always fully intact, wallets disappear and the bodies show up again days later. Why not eat the clothes as well? Why not stash the victim for later meals? But then again, the bite marks are obviously not human, so I don't know what to think, to tell you the truth."

"Yes, you do," he pushed, the grin turning into a small, friendly smile as his eyes locked with hers. For a moment there, he seemed much wiser than her, though she actually doubted that to be possible.

Lee hesitated once more, but this time because of James. He already believed she was crazy enough, but she feared that this might turn out to be the last drop.

"It's not human... but it's not animal either. Maybe, there's something else..." she mumbled. This had sounded much better in her mind. Now that she had said it out loud, she really did seem like a madman.

A dark cloud passed the stranger's face, which confused her. Hadn't he been the one pushing her for an answer? What else had he expected, then?

His words made her stop thinking for a moment. "Please get off this case."

Lee scowled at him, thinking he was joking around with her and almost spat out, "Fuck you."

But his face was serious and there were no more fun and games visible in his expression. His eyes flickered over to James, who took a step back as the tension between the two of them began to build up, before he pressed his hands on top of his desk. He leaned forward, and with his nose almost touching hers, she tried her best not to back down.

"I get it. This case is important for you, for your reputation or your ability to sleep at night-" Lee interrupted his whispering with a chuckle before letting him continue; her solving a case wasn't going to magically cure her insomnia or anything, "-or whatever, but there are things about the world that you don't know. Aren't supposed to know, too. So when I tell you to get off this case, I'm not doing it as this so-called culprit of yours, but as a friendly stranger to another, to protect you, _missy_. This won't end well for you if you decide to continue meddling with things that aren't supposed to be part of your life."

Lee stared into the icy blue eyes of this _friendly stranger_, her resolution wavering for a split second. Suddenly, she wasn't so sure about what she was supposed to do. But she wasn't about to give up just because some weirdo told her to do so. Not that she was going to tell said weirdo that, for he probably wouldn't let her go if she did.

Straightening her back, Lee called out to James without looking away from this man, whose name she still didn't know. "James, we're leaving. Go get the car ready, please."

"Thank you for your advice..." she then started, a professional smile making its way to her face as she held her hand out for him.

"Dante. And what might your lovely name be?" he asked her, his hand grasping hers in a firm handshake. He threw in a wink for good measure, the tension from before having disappeared completely in such a small amount of time, but she ignored it.

"Alethea Sheridan," she responded.

And then she added, "Thank you for the advice, Dante. I will consider it," despite the fact that she wasn't even planning on thinking his words over.

As though Dante expected this, he handed her the crumpled business card back. "Here. I have a feeling you'll be needing this more than I do."


	3. Your Own Way

A week later found Lee sitting at your desk, face in her hands, trying her best to control your breathing. A panic attack was the last thing she needed right now. She shouldn't let her guilt control her mind, her mind had to control the guilt and use it to fuel her motivation instead.

A week had passed by, yet the only thing Lee had gained was another body. A John this time.

_"The next one can very well be one of your relatives,"_ she scolded herself, handily forgetting that she didn't even have any relatives left. The few people who she did know and managed to put up with her, she called to check up on every few hours. The fact that their behavioural patterns didn't match with those of the victims didn't matter at all.

The only time she could forget all the worry and guilt was when she allowed herself to take another look at what she had found until now.

Staring down at the pictures of bodies and other evidence lined along the edge of her desk, she went over her theory and the facts that pointed towards its confirmation once more. The newest victim had provided her with some interesting new food for thought.

The killer couldn't be an animal; the clothes were enough proof for that, and then there was the illogical pattern of bodies disappearing and reappearing. But the fact that those bodies were half-eaten meant it couldn't possibly be done by a human being. A human and an animal working together, perhaps? But what animal could take such huge bites out of a fully grown body?

And then there was the zipper. Lee had found it in John's pocket, and after a bit of searching, she had found out that it had belonged to some model of a man's wallet. It had managed to get stuck on a thread in John's pocket that had held onto the zipper for dear life, resulting in the zipper actually being torn off its wallet by sheer force.

_That_ was something an animal wouldn't think of doing and what a human just couldn't do. You had even tried to replicate the result with the exact same wallet and trousers a few times already, to no avail.

This finding had sealed the deal for Lee. No matter how crazy it might sound, there _had_ to be something else.

_"Please get off this case."_

Why had Dante almost begged her to do so? And then his speech about wanting to protect her. Had he known about this? Did that mean there actually was something else, and he knew what it was?

Shaking these thoughts out of her head, she didn't want to make any conclusions without facts. She wouldn't forgive unprofessional behaviour from anyone, not herself or anybody else.

James popped his head into Lee's office, almost having felt her breakthrough from his own room. "Boss, you found anything new?"

With a disappointed sigh, she fell back into her chair, rubbing her face as she did so.

"Boss, you alright? You look just as horrible as the victims. When was the last time you had a good rest?" James went on, carrying a steaming mug of coffee towards her desk.

But she was no longer listening to his rambling.

_"You look just as horrible as the victims."_

_That's it!_

"That's it!" Lee repeated out loud.

"What's what?" James asked, confusion written all over his face.

"I'll lure the killer out myself," she announced as she got up from your chair, suddenly full of energy again.

If her announcing that the murderer was neither animal nor human but something entirely different hadn't changed his opinion of her sanity, this surely would. At least, that's what his staring at her seemed to tell her.

Then, after what seemed like ten minutes of awkward silence, he burst out in laughter. "You're... going to... lure him... out?"

Lee's pride having been hurt a little, she crossed her arms over her chest and raised a brow at his mirth. It took his brain even longer than before to process that she, in fact, was not joking, as he had expected. When he did realise it, he asked, "Wait, you're actually serious?"

Without showing any of the irritation at his naivety that she felt on her face, she nodded her head. Then, when he didn't reply, she stated out loud, "Yes, I am."

James merely shook his head in response, rubbing a hand across his forehead. He had learned long ago that when Lee had come up with a plan, it took hard, scientific evidence to get stop her from acting on it. And in this case, where James doubted there would even be scientific evidence to prove that the killer was "neither human, nor animal" that a normal human being could understand, he knew that there was no way to get this idea out of her head.

"But it's dangerous," he tried meekly, anyway, to which she shrugged.

"If it gets me closer to cracking this case then I will do whatever it takes! What is more important, my own life or that of the countless victims that have yet to be served as dinner?" she retorted, knowing he wouldn't ever be able to give that answer a morally just answer.

If he were to say the truth, then he would be forsaking other people and putting their lives on the line. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, after all. But if he were to agree with her, then he would be lying, and that wasn't something she would accept either. He ended up saying nothing, just as she had expected, and she went on writing down what she was going to do and why, for official record's purposes. Her boss wouldn't be very happy with her if he found out she went off without notifying anyone.

Checking her watch, Lee noticed it was slowly nearing the night and so she was going to have to leave now if she wanted to be ready in time. She doubted the killer would suddenly change his... appetite and attack someone dressed like _this_. She was going to have to wear something more appropriate for the occasion, unfortunately.

"Alright, I'll be going now," she announced as shse got up. She slung her coat, that she always hung neatly over the back of her chair, over her shoulders and folded the paper she had just written perfectly in the middle.

"What, now already? Don't you want to wait a few days until you can... refine your plan a bit? You always say not to make hasty conclusions, and I'm guessing this counts as-"

Lee silenced James with but a glance, telling him how serious she was. "James, I don't think 'making hasty conclusion' counts when there are innocent lives on the line, and with every additional day I wait with doing something, _anything,_ someone risks being turned into a meal. So please don't try to stop me. I'm not asking you to come with me, I'm only asking you to... well, prepare for the worst case scenario."

"You mean, worst case scenario as in... you dying?" James threw back at her, standing in front of the door with his hands on his hips. She had never seen such an amount anger and fear written on his face before.

She shrugged at the question, trying to lighten the mood up a bit, for his sake. "Well, actually, I meant worst case scenario as in me ending up in hospital. You know I won't die and leave you to live the rest of your life peacefully, don't you?"

It seemed to work and the corners of his lips started tugging upwards. Despite his fighting it back, the smile couldn't be hidden after it started appearing.

"Okay, fine!" he yelled, throwing his hands in the air. "But if you even think about dying on me, then I will bring you back to life only to kill you again."

"Doesn't that seem rather counterproductive? You'd want me to stay alive, wouldn't you, so if you actually had the ability to bring-"

"Please just leave before I change my mind."

"Okay, okay, I'm gone already!"

And with a quick pat of her pockets, Lee left the room, leaving James on his own to stare at his feet. Despite his many utterances of her having the capability of being an annoying, weird, mean, crazy bitch-slash-control freak most of the time, he still had become quite attached to her in these past few years. He would never admit it to anybody out there, but if it weren't for her, he probably never would have gotten out of his shell, would probably still be the self-conscious man who felt worthless about everything he did. He didn't want to lose her before being able to say so to her face, but she was completely oblivious of this fact as she made her way out of the building.

On her way outside, she left her report at the front desk, the man behind it accepting it nervously. Nobody around here liked being in her presence for fear of being scrutinised by her.

"There is really no reason for you to start trembling whenever I walk into the room," Lee stated as she quickly pulled her hand back, not wanting to touch the officer while handing him her note.

He almost looked relieved, a sigh escaping his lips when she said, "And by the way, you did your tie completely wrong. But it doesn't really matter because the horrible matching of your tie and your shirt completely hides it, so don't worry about it. Maybe you should buy a longer pair of pants next time you go shopping, too."

"Y-yes, sir, eh, ma'am..."

"Good. Now good night to you," was all she said as she turned and set her course out of the building.

"Oh, and you... You've got mail, ma'am," the shaken officer yelled after her.

"Just give it to James!" And with a wave of her hand, Lee dismissed herself from the office, now obviously a woman on a very important mission.


	4. Atlas

Walking down these snowy streets at night, the clicking and crunching of the high heels Lee was wearing against the sometimes snowed-in, sometimes concrete pavement - she didn't even bother avoiding the cracks right now - made her more self-conscious than she had ever been. The short skirt and tank top that kept crawling up her skin didn't particularly help her case, next to freezing her to death. Still, the sudden nervousness of her plan actually working cast a shadow over her worrying about her appearance.

She kept telling herself that it would never go as planned. She had never had a lot of luck in life, so why should that change in this moment?

Perhaps because she could also consider herself _unlucky_ if the 'mission' were to succeed. In the end, she stopped trying to reason with herself and just walked on.

By now, she had reached the rather empty downtown of the city and she wondered whether it was so because of the attacks, or whether it had always been like this.

In her hand she held her phone in a death grip, the sweat from her palms making it hard to keep her firm hold on it. Though she wasn't sure who exactly she could call if something "neither animal, nor human" attacked her, the fact that she was connected to the world comforted her greatly.

Glancing at the screen, she saw that it was past midnight and she began to hope that this whole thing would end up being a failure.

Her first, but one she would happily acknowledge if it meant she still lived to do just that.

But maybe if she hadn't turned that corner into the dark alley to her right, she might have lived to tell the story - no, let's not get ahead of ourselves; she still had much to accomplish.

Anyway, she turned into a suspiciously dark alley, hoping she could at least claim to have searched the streets thoroughly. Seeing next to nothing, she had to hold a hand against the brick wall next to her for guidance, not caring about chafing her finger tips.

Nope - her bad luck was definitely playing its role right now.

She could almost _feel _its lecherous stare before her eyes had adjusted themselves enough to actually _see_ the beast responsible for all the terror it caused.

It was long - so, so long, she would never be able to describe it to someone who hadn't seen something like this before. It looked almost like a feral beast, maybe a lion or a tiger, except with dark, metallic scales instead of fur covering its body. It still had claws though; large, deadly-looking claws that could slice her in half with a snap of its finger. It also had a tail that looked dangerous in its own right, its surface covered in thorns that were dripping with she didn't want to know what.

Its head was the most unnerving part of its body, however. It had a large mouth, as she had expected, but the top of its face, or head, or whatever it was, was covered with a black cloth.

As if that weren't enough, it actually started to chuckle before breaking out in a fit of actual laughter.

"Well, well, well, look what we have here..." it said, its mouth moving in ways Lee hadn't deemed possible for something that looked like a lion-tiger-thing. Its voice was one of the weirdest thing she had ever heard, too: deep, raspy, yet completely distorted and inhuman.

It took a step forward towards her from where it stood, at the other side of the alley. She looked over her shoulder and saw that she wasn't that far away from the exit, though deep down she doubted she would ever make it in time. One pounce from this _thing _and she'd die, like a deer trying to escape its hunter but failing miserably.

Still, she couldn't stop herself from taking a step back, not turning her back towards the monster just yet. She couldn't do anything more, anyway; her body having gone into complete lock-down as her brain tried to wrap itself around the concept of something that actually _was_ "neither animal, nor human". She herself hadn't even believed in the existence of something like that, but she just hadn't had anything else to go by. Seeing as she had actually been right caused conflicting emotions within her: she was glad that she had figured it out, however she had no fucking idea what she should do now.

It sniffed a few times before it let out another laugh. "Hmm... You're not like the others, are you? Not intoxicated, like the others were. More intelligent, too. But then why would someone like you make her way towards a place like this?"

She was still incapable of replying. It took another step towards her, so she took another step back. Unfortunately, however, the heel of her right shoe got caught between a hidden stone on the ground and she stumbled backwards into the snow, somehow managing to not squeak in surprise. Her hand immediately shot down to hold her skirt down, though this was the worst possible moment to care about up-skirts. It was a monster, for god's sake; she doubted it even had a sexual need.

"Who... who are you?" Lee stammered as she tried to scoot farther away from this thing, her hands already going numb as she tried to push herself away. All she accomplished was damaging her calves and hands, without really making the distance between the two of them any bigger.

It let out a bark - highly confusing since it resembled a cat-like creature - of laughter before making a small jump in her direction. "I doubt that knowing who or what I am will do your case any good. However, because I am such a gentleman, I shall answer your question regardlessly. I am Atlas, though now I wonder if you even understand what that means."

At his last remark, Lee finally regained a bit of her senses. Unfortunately for her, it had to be exactly the wrong part of her that returned.

The corners of her lips curled up in a smirk as she ignored the stinging of the small scratches and the cold on her legs. "Actually, though I don't know what exactly Atlas means when it comes to whatever the hell you are, I _do_ know that Atlas was a Greek Titan, brother of Prometheus and forced by Zeus to hold up the sky..."

'Atlas' growled at her smartassery, its tail whipping around and smashing holes in the walls to its sides, though it remained seemingly unaffected by the impact. If that didn't hurt it, or at least affect it in the slightest manner, then how on earth was she supposed to get out of here?

"How dare you insult my greatness by comparing me to a nonexistent being such as that...!" it practically spat at her. It continued to glare at her from where it stood, trying to intimidate her from a distance first before closing in.

Lee shrugged at his threat and replied, "Technically you were non-existent to me before I met you as well. And there's nothing wrong with being compared to Greek mythology, as long as you don't go re-enacting all the fucked up stories surrounding those guys."

"Well, I guess that if you know Greek mythology, then I am not sure if I should praise you for your intellect, or whether I should condemn you for coming to a place like this at a time like this despite said intelligence," Atlas responded, and she could have sworn that if it had had eyebrows, it would have raised them at her.

In that moment, Atlas decided that this conversation had dragged on for too long and that it was hungry. Smart or no, it would devour the human nonetheless. It took another step from Atlas in her direction to get her brain completely back on track and before she could curse herself for challenging this monster, she remembered that she still held her phone in her hand. Atlas seemed to notice her shift of attention, leaping the last few steps in one go, practically shoving its humongous face into hers.

Lee froze at the sudden movement and tried to crawl backwards, only to find her back hitting something, stopping her from going any farther away. In the meanwhile, Atlas sniffed a few more times and she could feel its breath on her skin. In her disgust, goose bumps appeared all over her body and a shiver ran down her spine.

But then, all of a sudden, it was Atlas's turn to freeze, its hungry grin turning into something that resembled a gaping mouth. Surprise was written all over its face, if that was even possible, and Lee frowned at the change in attitude.

Not waiting much longer, she took this moment to start typing a number into her phone, holding her screen just so that it couldn't see what she was doing. Thanking the gods for her need to mute her phone all the time, she managed to get halfway through the only number she could think of entering into the device before Atlas noticed what she was up to.

"Oh no you don't!" it yelled and swiped its paw at her, catching her in the side and slamming her into the wall on the other side of the alley.

She let out a scream of anguish mixed with surprise. The blood pouring from her torso, turning the whiteness beneath her red, proved her point of its claws being able to slice her open in one go - but it hadn't even used those, yet.

Sliding down the wall and onto a pile of snow on the ground, the trembling floor beneath her ended up being her only way of indicating Atlas's position. It was too dark to really see anything, after all, and her head now also throbbed painfully from the impact.

"Not so cheeky now, are you?" Atlas chuckled again, not noticing that her fingers worked her phone once more.

A voice in her head screamed that she had to check if she had typed the right number, but there was no way to see her phone screen without drawing unwanted attention to it. It also seemed impossible for her to retrieve the business card from her wallet that she had put in a handbag, which had been part of her disguise. If she could, then she would have been able to grab her gun as well and shoot this bastard's head off.

So she pushed the voice away and continued typing as slow and unobvious as possible, counting and re-counting the digits inside her mind. As she pressed the call button, Atlas reached her body again, just in time to hear the dial tone and a click as the person on the other side picked up.

"Couldn't wait to hear from me again, could ya? I hope you can forgive me for taking the liberty of finding out your phone number, seeing as it was kinda unfair that you had my number but I didn't get anything in return, don't you think?"

"You bitch...!" Atlas growled, flinging its paw at her again to eliminate her phone, but she managed to shield it with her body just in time.

Instead, its paw practically punched her in the back and she yelped out.

"Where are you?" the phone spoke from beneath her and in that moment, she was rather glad that the man on the other side of the connection did not know of this fact. He seemed like the kind of guy who would enjoy hearing that, calling strangers 'babe' and all.

She quickly told him the address, and before the dial tone returned once more, she added, "Please hurry."

Atlas rolled her over onto her back, so that she could stare right up at its ugly face. The apathy on her face took it aback, her empty eyes staring right through its cloth-covered ones. Her sudden change in attitude was mostly caused by the feeling of weakness that came from too much blood loss, combined with the need to aggravate Atlas even further, seeing as how that had worked in delaying the attack before, and the knowledge that help was on the way.

Now all she could do was hope that he would make it here in time.

Atlas seemed to be of the same mind, though probably for different reasons. It grinned as it opened its mouth, a black tongue slithering out to lick the single claw it had released. "I guess we'll just have to make the most of the time that we're left with, am I right?"

Without leaving any room for a reply, Atlas slammed its paw down, the claw burying itself into her shoulder. Her eyes went wide and she opened her mouth to scream, but no sound came out - she just lay there, petrified as the pain entered her already bruised and battered body.

She gasped for breath when the claw left her flesh, more blood flooding out of her as she inhaled as much air as possible now that the pressure had left her breast. Spots danced in front of her eyes and the world began to spin, but still she managed to focus on Atlas. She tried her best to keep herself awake by noting all the irregularities in its appearance that would have bothered her tremendously were the situation completely different. The way that the cloth before its eyes didn't run in a straight line along its nose, or that one of its nostrils was a bit bigger than the other. The fact that its front paws were larger, though the muscles in the hind leg looked stronger than those in the front.

How it was neither animal nor human, yet she couldn't think of any explanation as to how or why. Or how she was supposed to prove this without everyone thinking that she had gone completely crazy. Or how she had to survive this attack long enough for that bastard to get here.

Just a few moments after Atlas had retracted its claw, it gave her another smack, finding the lack of reaction somewhat depressing.

"Come on, now. Don't let the fun die down already," it remarked as it watched her soar through the air once more, all the way to the other end of the alley.

Lee expected her body to hit the floor there, expected to just lay still and die before the monster could reach her again, but instead she was met with something completely different.

"Didn't your mother ever teach you to not play with your food?" the voice she had only heard once more in her life spoke up. It had sounded so playful and arrogant back then, how come it had changed into this deep and serious tone?

It made another shiver run down her spine, and if she had had the energy left to do so, she would have blushed at her body's inappropriate reaction. She wasn't sure whether Dante had felt it or not, but he didn't comment on it as he slowly lowered her to the floor. He quickly checked her wounds over before focussing on Atlas, still standing where she had been lying a few seconds ago. A puddle of her blood stained the ground beneath it.

"Well, it wouldn't surprise me if she hadn't. Can't blame any mother whose child has a face like that," Dante taunted as he took a step towards the beast, his hand resting on the hilt of his sword. "Or maybe that's why you're hiding yourself under that piece of cloth?"

Atlas snarled at him before jumping into the sky, the two of them flying at each other, the sound of metal clashing against claws filling the air.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve perhaps?" Dante continued, the smirk on his face audible in his voice as he continued trading blows with Atlas.

Watching the battle from her awkward position on the ground, Lee could hardly believe her eyes at the inhuman abilities the man in red displayed. There was a gap in her mind, something that held her back from understanding everything she saw. That monster, Atlas, and Dante... They weren't humans, that much was obvious, but they weren't mere wild beasts, either.

Still, she couldn't exactly care enough in that moment as she felt her eyes slowly close despite all her attempts to keep them open. She tried to move around and get her body out of its sleeping fit, but she found that she couldn't do anything through all the pain.

She barely registered Atlas escaping the alley with its tail between its legs and Dante making his way back to her, his face now worried as he softly shook her.

"Hey, stay awake, will you? I'll take you to a hospital," was all Lee heard before everything went black anyway.


	5. Sparks

The smell of the place she was in penetrated Lee's whole body and mind before she was even completely awake. Opening her eyes, she only confirmed that she was indeed lying in a hospital. Oh brother.

Her eyes automatically started roaming about on the ceiling, her mind at once going blank as she started counting the tiles up there. Her mind was still a bit fuzzy though, so she got stuck at the two-number digits a few times and had to recount them all to get it right.

Once she did, though, she let her eyes wander downwards. She was thankful for the fact that the room was free of pictures and posters hanging on the walls, that left her with one thing less to stress about while she was supposed to get better.

Next up, she turned her head left and right, noticing the many 'Get well' cards standing around her. Since when had she known so many people in the first place? Who actually liked her enough to spend money on her? Well, people _did _often forget such things when something bad happened.

'Oh, poor child, all alone by that age and getting into trouble like that!' Lee almost started feeling nauseated at the thought. Let's just hope they didn't like her enough to visit. She'd promptly throw herself Atlas's way if that actually happened.

At the thought of Atlas, she remembered what had happened the evening before in a flash - wait, had it actually been yesterday? For how long had she been out in the first place? What had happened anyway? She remembered calling Dante, and then Dante arriving, but after that, her mind went blank.

In her sudden wave of panic, she forced herself up into a sitting position, ignoring the screaming and protesting of her body and just gritting her teeth together, as though that might summon more willpower.

No longer in control of the whole situation, Lee's mind went reeling. She couldn't think straight, and in her stupor she ripped off the IV and other strings attached to her body. Finally, she swung her legs over the edge of the bed.

By now, she was already breathing heavily and the pain that her wounds were causing actually blinded her a little. Because of that, she didn't realise she had pushed herself off the bed until her feet met the cold floor - luckily not on the edge of a tile, or else everything would have been much worse. She only realised her mistake when her legs gave out, and with a whelp she crashed onto the ground.

As she lay there, groaning and begging for a swift, painless death, the door was thrown open and in James came rushing. A nurse came in right behind him as well.

"Boss!" he called, kneeling down next to her.

When he and the nurse, who was trying to calm Lee down with soft words, tried to help her back onto the bed, she refused to work with them. Her mind went into an overdrive at the sudden close proximity of a complete stranger. She didn't even let a close friend like James get near her most of the time, imagine her reaction when the two of them were practically hugging her all of a sudden!

"Shit, not right now, boss! We have to get you off the floor!" But she could no longer respond. Or breathe properly for that matter.

"She's suffocating," the nurse noted as she kept her distance from Lee. It hadn't taken her long to realise that she disliked contact with other people quite a bit.

James, on the other hand, just tried again, making all things even worse.

"Man, can't you take a hint?" a new voice came from outside, its owner turning out to belong to Dante. He came rushing in with a doctor by his side and he frowned at James.

While Dante busied himself with pulling James away from Lee, her mind figuratively clung to the man. That's right, this guy was work. A suspect, now a witness. He had saved her, come when she had called him. But, _why_ had she called him?

Something dawned on James and he noted her somewhat quieter state in Dante's presence. While feeling a little jealous that she had grown closer to this one guy in a few hours than to him over the years, he said, "Look, she's calming down. Pick her up."

And indeed, she merely continued to stare ahead of herself as Dante wrapped his arms around her, easily lifting her up into the air and onto her bed. For what it was worth, she even closed her eyes, secretly surprised by how pleasant a touch could be. And how it had been many, many years since she had been touched like this.

That, and she was trying her best to repress all her panic-inducing questions such as: _'Why can he lift me this easily?'_, _'How could he scare away a monster like 'Atlas'?'_ or, most of all, _'Is he actually human?' _She would try to find the solutions to these puzzles when her mental state had regained its former glory and wouldn't break down with the touch of a stranger's finger.

In no time at all, Lee was lying in bed again with all the strings attached once more and nobody in her near vicinity.

"Seems like you've got a weak spot for me, _babe_," Dante commented with a smirk once the nurse and doctor, who hadn't had anything interesting to tell other than that she'd be staying here for a short while, had left.

Lee shot him a glare before responding with, "Don't be silly. Personal affairs can freak me out, _you_, however, are strictly a part of my job at the moment. So don't get cocky, and for fuck's sake, stop calling me 'babe'."

Although at first James had felt more jealousy towards Dante, that soon happened to be replaced by amusement as he realised the entertaining bickering that would most likely ensue between the two of them.

This was promptly proven by Dante himself, who rubbed his stubbled jaw, a thoughtful expression on his face. "You tell me it's your job to do me, and we all know you choose jobs by searching for what you love to do. And then you also go mentioning rather suggestive words such as 'cocky' and 'fucking' in the very same sentence, so I'm not quite sure what I'm supposed to think here, m'dear."

James clapped his hands in front of his mouth to stop himself from laughing out loud. Luckily for him, Dante was already on the receiving end of Lee's anger, so he guessed he would be safe. At least for now.

Angered by this bastard taunting her all the time, she got up again despite James suddenly stopping with laughing and starting to protest. She leaned over towards Dante and flicked him between the eyes.

"Ow!" he yelled, holding a hand over the sore spot. "But see, you're only proving my point. I'm irresistible for you to touch."

As he exclaimed that, he lifted his hands into the air, giving her the perfect opportunity to flick him again.

"Ow! See!" he yelled again, but this time he moved away from her and her wrath.

Just when James had managed to push her back down without causing her too much pain, the door opened again. This time, neither a nurse nor a doctor entered, though.

"Chief!" James exclaimed as the head of Lee's department walked in, completely forgetting that he had been busy with keeping her down but half a second ago. While James bowed low in a sign of respect, Lee merely frowned at her boss's appearance.

He kept looking over at Dante. He tried to play it off casually, as though he were curious about the stranger, but she noticed he looked rather distraught by Dante's presence.

"Yes, hello. I decided it to be appropriate to visit one of my best men in the hospital during a free moment. I trust everything is fine with your health, for as far as that is possible right now?" Chief finally said once he focussed his attention onto her, not seeming to calm down as he did so.

"Ah, yes, thank you," she began while trying her best to hide the uneasiness his presence suddenly brought her, before remembering the stupid man sitting next to her and adding, "This is Dante. He is... helping us with the case."

She hoped no one would comment on her leaving out the part where he actually happened to be a suspect.

The Chief nodded at Dante with a small smile and Dante returned the gesture. Then the Chief returned to Lee again, a serious expression on his face once more. "Ah, yes... About the case."

She sat up again, this time in anticipation as to what kind of news she was about to receive on her work. James was too occupied with not disturbing the Chief to push her down again.

"I think it would be best if you were to hand the case over to someone else."

Frozen, Lee could only stare at her boss. He was kidding, right? After all she had done and _sacrificed_, putting her life on the line to find the killer... And now she was expected to simply 'give up'? How could she possibly do that, when someone else might not get it right? He would have to start over, from scratch, and who knew how many more lives would be ended because of such a fatal mistake.

"What? You can't just do that!" she retorted, anger slowly rising inside of her.

"B-boss...!" James whispered at her. He tried to get her to back down; threatening her boss was an obvious no-go, but she ignored him anyway.

"Yes, I can. And I will," the Chief cut both of them off. Fury was visible in his own eyes as well, which caused her to back down a little.

Her boss had never been one to be angered by so little no matter how many times she had defied him in the past, so the fact that he was agitated over her one protest this time surprised her a little. Why, all of a sudden, did he seem adamant in getting her off this case? He knew how she threw her whole being into everything she did, so he knew that he would be killing off part of her by forcing her away from her job.

"You're tired and not thinking straight because of the pressure this case is causing you. Exactly because of that you're now in this position, in hospital. You'll have to hand over all your notes and the evidence you have gathered to the next person to whom I assign this job and then you'll leave it behind, do you hear me?" he went on.

The more he said, the harder she clenched her hands into fists, her knuckles going completely white as she did so. She knew that no matter what she was planning on saying, he wouldn't take it back.

"Why would someone like you ruin her life by holding onto one single job? You're very intelligent, you can have any you want. Just let this one go."

A shiver ran down her spine at his words, though she didn't know why. She didn't know anything, at the moment. Her mind had gone completely blank again, her hands relaxing on the sheets. She stared at them, unmoving, throbbing painfully after the tight position she had forced them in a few moments ago, and merely nodded at whatever insanity the Chief was spewing at her.

A hand found its way to her shoulder, though she couldn't tell whose it was. In that moment, she couldn't care less and merely continued staring at her hands.

"I'm glad you understand me. Then I shall leave you to recover as quick as possible. There will be a lot of work waiting for you when you do!" He probably meant to cheer her up, but it didn't help an iota. She just felt relieved when he finally left the room, and she thought that _he_ almost looked relieved to be able to leave, too.

The thought left her mind immediately, though, as James and Dante turned their attention to her. James because he had known Lee and her stubbornness for years, and Dante just because he had a hunch.

"So?" they both asked at the same time.

"So what?" she mumbled, acting confused. She knew exactly what they were asking.

"Are you really...?" James began.

He thought that would be enough, but Dante helped him finish his sentence anyway, "Going to quit?"

Lee finally lifted her eyes from her hands and a small smile found its way onto her lips. "What do you think?"


	6. From Butterflies to Hurricanes

**[A/N] **** Jeralee: **it's a pleasure to receive a review from you, an author whose stories I have been following :D I wanted to you reply to your review itself, but the site said that you had disabled the private messaging feature so I'm keeping my fingers crossed and hoping you will read this. I'm really happy to hear that you like the story so far, and thank you very much for the compliments, they seriously make my week! Though I have to tell you, in secret Lee actually isn't an OC at all. I originally posted this story on the site 'Ghosts of the Vanguard', where readers as characters are far more common. Because those aren't very popular on this site, I edit it to give her a name and change the POV when I post the chapters on this site, for my readers' pleasure over here. I hope you'll stay tuned because I sure as hell am planning on writing more! :D

* * *

A week, or maybe two or three - Lee really hadn't bothered counting - later found her sitting on her bed, legs crossed, as she read a book she had always wanted to pick up but never quite found the time for, with her work and all. However, the lovely silence was interrupted when a nurse she had seen more often than not during her stay but of whom she had never bothered to remember the name of - she didn't bother to remember a lot of things these days - entered her room with a bright smile.

"So, I guess you'll be leaving soon, right?" she started as she began to check Lee's vitals, reading most of them off the machinery still attached to her.

"This afternoon, actually," she added. Already knowing what to do, she removed her shirt so that the nurse had better access to her wounds.

While the nurse busied herself with Lee's bandages, she went back to reading in her book to try and ignore the close proximity of this woman inside her personal bubble. The nurse had learned of her dislike of close contact with people with her first episode, though, so she knew to try and keep some distance between the two of them.

"You must be excited to leave again, huh?" she asked as she finished replacing the bandages and immediately took a step back to give her patient some space.

Lee shrugged, noting that the pain now only felt like she had done some vigorous work-out the day before. Much better than the feeling of knives poking her flesh from in the beginning. "I guess so."

"Oh, don't be so cool about it. Didn't you end up here because of your job? That would make anybody think that you're very attached to it," the nurse went on, dumping the dirtied bandages in the trash can by the side of the door before she went to sit next to Lee on the bed, at the far end away from her.

"I don't think I'll be working properly anytime soon, though," she muttered and turned a page of her book.

The nurse looked at her hands in her lap, a sad expression on her face as she did so. "Yes, I heard of the conversation between you and your boss. I'm sorry to hear."

The other held back a scoff, doubting she was actually sorry for her. People always said that to act kind and interested, when they'd rather move onto another subject that might centre more around themselves.

To her surprise, that wasn't the case this time. "I sincerely hope everything will get better for you. But I've got to go and see some other patients now. I hope to see you again before you leave."

Without waiting for a response from her, probably having grown accustomed to her silence, the nurse left the room while humming a soft tune. Lee stared after her, wondering if there actually might be people out there who weren't all fake like she had thought before returning her attention to her book.

With a grumble, she realised she didn't even feel like reading any longer. So instead, she put her shirt back on and decided to go over her notes once more, in preparation for her first steps out of this place.

Later that day, Dante came by for the first time since he had witnessed her being thrown out of the case by the Chief. For one, she had told him to stay away because the only reason that she'd contact him would be for said case, and that would merely conjure suspicion from everyone who thought she had accepted her defeat.

Also, because Dante himself had been busy too, though she wasn't quite sure whether she actually wanted to know what it was that he had been doing or not.

But anyway, it had been a good moment to think everything through very thoroughly. He had abnormally white hair for his age, and those blue eyes didn't seem entirely human either. The way he had caught her when she had been thrown into the air by Atlas and how he had actually fought the beast afterwards - she had remembered more of her trip downtown once a few days had passed - scaring him off and then carrying her, probably with ease, to this hospital. And then how he had picked her off the floor and onto the bed a few days ago. She didn't know exactly how much she weighed, it still seemed unlikely that anybody would be able to lift her up with such ease, without even a grunt or anything.

He had also known about the case from the very beginning. Hadn't he warned her, after all? And wasn't his business called '_Devil May Cry_'? That in itself seemed rather strange. Was that what he was, then? A devil? _The_ devil? But then what on earth could one call Atlas? It seemed rather unlikely that _the_ devil would have trouble with whatever the hell that had been. Or if Atlas was the devil, then he wouldn't have run off from Dante like that, would he?

The more she thought about it, the more confused she ended up making herself, so she had set out to ask him any and all questions that she had the next time he would come to visit her. Which was today, right now.

"Well damn, if it isn't my favourite detective who specially requested my presence inside the space of her personal bubble," Dante yelled as he stormed into Lee's room and she almost regretted her decision to ask him to come.

She hung her head just to get her point across, too.

"Aww come on. Don't be like that! You know I enjoy having privileges when it comes to you. Makes me feel special, you know, honey?"

Rubbing her temples and closing her eyes, she tried to focus on the problem at hand instead of her irritation.

"Dante, this is important. Be serious," she scolded him while crossing her arms. His eyes wandered downwards from her face and as she repressed a sigh, she concluded that had been the wrong thing to do. Luckily, she always crossed her arms _over_ her breasts, not _under_ them.

"First, what's the magic word?" Dante replied with that bloody twinkle in his eyes once he made eye contact with her again.

Lee was almost regretting her decision to leave no stone unturned, wishing that she had left this huge, ugly rock right where it belonged. At the bottom of the ocean where it couldn't bother anybody but the fish and other animals that lived down there. Though even now, she knew that Dante would close the gap between herself and this mystery case. Unfortunately.

Plus, no matter how much she hated it, her body seemed to be... _enjoying_ his presence. It seemed as though her brain calmed down when he was near, and though she was inexperienced when it came to this subject, she wasn't oblivious to the rate of her heartbeat quickening its pace and the sudden increase of sweat that her body excreted at just the thought of him. She didn't like this at all, so she mostly just ignored it. Not that she was ever going to admit all this out loud to anybody, anyway. Atlas eating her was more likely to happen than that.

With a roll of her eyes, Lee did as Dante wanted. "_Please_."

He smiled once more, said, "Thank you," and then did a complete one-eighty; all humour disappearing in the blink of an eye. It almost seemed as though he had been preparing himself for this moment. Well, it was rather obvious this conversation had to take place someday, right?

"Alrighty then... Shoot. Not literally, of course, though if you feel like you need to... Then shoot anyway," Dante began, confusing her a little.

Had that been another joke? But he didn't look like he was joking? Come on, she was the smartest person she knew, she could figure this stupid riddle out. And just then, combining the spoken words with an image of the 'fight' or whatever one wanted to call it, between Dante and Atlas, it clicked inside her mind: he _was_ being serious. He meant what he said... One could shoot him and he'd be perfectly fine.

"You're not one of them, are you?" she asked him as she looked him dead in the eye. He didn't back down, avert eye contact or anything else. From that, she concluded that he was very comfortable with being whatever he was. So he had been like 'this' all his life, or at least a large part of it, and had had enough time to get used to it. Also, his bright blue eyes were very much appreciated by her body. God damn it, not right now...

Dante raised an eyebrow at her and she hoped it was because of her question and her genius, not because of her traitorous body revealing its admiring of him.

"You mean 'one of them' as in, am I a partner of the Atlas or am I that which the Atlas also is?" he finally responded, relieving Lee of her anxiety and giving her something to think about at the same time.

"Both? But I'm guessing from the reactions of you two during that confrontation that you're not a friend of Atlas, or _the_ Atlas, or whatever," she added, wiping her hands off of the sheets she was sitting on.

"Correct. And yes, you could say I am one of them on the other question."

She tilted her head to the side, trying to grasp what he meant. "'You could say'? That's not an actual 'yes', is it?"

Dante suddenly grinned again. He himself felt rather relieved as well: relieved she hadn't run off screaming yet at the thought that he wasn't exactly human.

"Okay, look, let me sing you the song of my people." Lee shot him a warning look, but that didn't work out so well when she actually found his joke to be amusing, so he just continued, "Once, there was a mighty demon called Sparda, the Legendary Dark Knight-"

He stopped when he saw her open her mouth to interrupt him, but he answered her question before she could even ask it. "Yes, there are demons and there's even a Hell or whatever you want to call it where they live."

She closed her mouth, realising there wasn't anything she could actually ask about that. Demons existed, and so did some kind of underworld of sorts. Got it.

"Well, first of all, there was of course a ruler of this Hell, called Mundus, also known as the Prince of Darkness, the Dark Emperor, the Devil King, the Devil Prince, and last but questionably not least, _Pluto_. Take your pick." He didn't actually give her enough time to choose a favourable nickname.

"As you may have noticed from his titles, he wasn't exactly a good guy. About two millennia ago, he killed the previous Demon King and planned to lead an assault on the world we're in right now, the Human World. And that's where our hero, the great Sparda, comes in. You see, he was a chief general in Mundus's army. The story goes that he 'awoke to justice'." Dante used finger quotes to emphasise his point before continuing, "and all by himself, he defeated the evil king Mundus, after which he disappeared, though we know he ruled over the human race and protected them, even though this caused him to be branded a traitor by other demons."

Dante cleared his throat and Lee wondered if he had finished the story. She felt that she had missed something and asked herself what this had to do with the question whether Dante was 'one of them' or not, but before she could say anything, he went on again.

"Anyway, skipping forward a few years, the hero Sparda met and fell in love with a lovely female human, whose name was Eva. She was beautiful, with long, flowing, golden hair and a friendly face that always had a smile ready for loved ones..." Dante trailed off, his eyes unfocussed as though he were in a place far, far away. Lee shifted uncomfortably at the sudden silence and coughed a few times to bring him back into the present.

"Yes, sorry," Dante muttered as he shook his head a bit before continuing, "Sparda and Eva, they fell in love, married and had twins. Everything was fine and well until their eighth birthday, when Mundus finally got his revenge on Sparda for defeating him, his demons killing Eva. How Sparda himself died, no one really knows. But Eva gave her life protecting her sons; the older twin, named Vergil, disappearing to who knows where and the younger twin, standing right here, helping you defeat a demon because that's what he does. Is that enough of an answer for you?"

Dante watched Lee in anticipation, while she sat unmoving on her bed. Her mind, on the other hand, was racing about like it never had before, trying to wrap itself around what she had just been told.

Demons existed. They came from some Hell and had wanted to take over the 'human' world. The world that she had always considered to be the one and only real world out there. And Dante's _father_ had defeated them. Half-human, half-demon, then. It explained the name of his business, _Devil May Cry _and his cheap-looking office because how many people could possibly come to his door, looking for a demon exterminator? The hair, the eyes, the way he had managed to hold her as though she weighed nothing more than a tennis ball or how he had fought back against Atlas... It all seemed so obvious now. And he had made it quite clear that he was on 'her side', whatever that may be.

Okay. She could live with this.

"You alright? Should I have sung the song a little slower?" Dante offered. He now looked rather concerned and even a bit frightened. Why on Earth would he be scared for her reaction? How many humans had he already scared off and what would one more matter to the list?

Though a little shaken at this sudden revelation, Lee still managed a smile for him as she pushed away the thought of since when she had become considerate of other people's feelings. She told herself that this guy happened to be a half-demon and she didn't want to know what kind of torture he could make her suffer if she was to get on his bad side.

"No, it's fine. Thank you for the information, I think I should thank you for this major breakthrough on the case," she replied before he could say any more. She felt pleased with the relieved look on Dante's face, before scolding herself that she shouldn't become so attached to a witness.

It was just for this one job. When she closed this case, she'd put this all behind herself and go back to living life the way she had before she knew all this.

Still, Lee wondered if she would ever be able to go back in the first place. More specifically, if she would ever _want_ to go back.


	7. Promises

"So, just to make sure, you know how to change your bandages?" a nurse Lee hadn't seen before asked her as she checked everything over one last time.

It seemed as though this woman planned on making that last time the longest one, too.

Still, Lee nodded her head, pushing her irritation at these formalities to the side. The nurse was only doing her job, just as Lee wanted to get back to doing hers.

"And you're going to make sure that you'll refresh them _at least_ twice a day?" she continued, her eyes wandering over the clipboard she had been holding in her hands for the past fifteen minutes now.

Lee didn't even bother moving this time, assuming the nurse would assume her nod either way. She hadn't looked up from that board since the beginning of this interrogation in the first place.

"Have you already looked at the pills you're going to have to keep on taking when you've been released?"

Yes, and she had also checked that they worked well with the other medication she was on, mostly against her insomnia. Also what the side effects of an overdoses might be if her OCD were to attack.

"Also, an extra note from the doctor, of which he has already notified your boss..." the nurse began again, flipping through the week worth of paper Lee's vitals had filled up, "You're supposed to continue resting at home, because your wounds haven't recovered enough for you to be up and about too much. So the doctor suggests you either take it easy, or just stay at home for another week or so, and even after that just really be careful for maybe a month. So don't jump back into work, but take your time and-"

"Do you have diarrhea right now?"

The nurse's face went red at the embarrassing question as she wondered how her patient could have possibly come to such a question. Because this happened to be the first time for said patient to meet her, Lee felt no sympathy towards her like she did towards the other nurses who had put up with her during her stay.

"W-what? No? Why?" the nurse asked, her stuttering not making Lee want to hold her crude comments any longer.

"Because you're spouting out so much shit right now." And with that, she jumped off the bed, gathered her coat and other things before making her way towards the door. "I'll do whatever I want, whenever I want and no matter how many years some person spent studying books at school, I won't listen to what he thinks is best for my body, thank you very much."

After a quick pat of her pockets to make sure she had everything on her, she left the nurse stand baffled. She knew fully well that she merely had to sign something at the receptionist's desk to get out of this place.

James surprised her by standing at aforementioned desk when she entered the main room downstairs. He grinned at her, obviously happy at her being released. The office was far too quiet without her doing her rituals and criticising the clothes of other people.

"Hey boss," he greeted her once she stood in front of him. "I bet you're happy to get out of here, right? Go on, sign the papers first and we'll talk on our way out."

Lee hadn't even had the time to respond, the corners of her lips twitching upwards in a smile as she walked past him and up to the desk. The woman sitting behind it watched her cautiously, probably already having heard many stories from the other nurses who had met her. Not that it bothered her, or anything.

"Can I sign the papers to leave?" Lee asked, not even trying to be polite. She just wanted to get out of this Hell hole as soon as possible.

The receptionist raised an eyebrow at the other's attitude, but with a shake of her head gathered and handed Lee the papers in question. With a sigh of relief, the detective lifted a pen lying about on the desk, attached to the wood by an annoying twirling cord that kept getting in the way. After she had won the battle, she scribbled something that may or may not have resembled her signature at the bottom of the page, not bothering to read what was written on it. Practically throwing the pen away and sliding the contract back towards the receptionist, who shook her head again at Lee's hastiness, she strode off in the direction of the exit, James scrambling to follow her in his surprise.

"H-hey, are you that desperate to get out of here?" he yelped, and then squealed again when she stopped without warning him first. He managed to keep himself from colliding against her back, not wanting to burst her personal bubble.

Lee ignored his rambling as she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath, relinquishing the smell of non-hospital air and drowning in the sea of sounds that belonged to the outside world, no longer surrounded by the mechanical bleeping of hospital machinery.

"Boss, are you alright?" James asked then, interrupting her reveries.

With an incoherent grumble, she redirected her attention towards her assistant. "Yes, I'm perfectly fine. Just because I was hospitalised doesn't mean that you should freak out at every one of my moments."

"'Just because you were hospitalised'? Boss, you could have died! You do know that, right?" the boy retorted, throwing his arms in the air in frustration. Passers-by were already starting to stare at the scene they were causing, and she had barely even left the hospital.

"Yes, but I didn't, did I? Everything went fine and I met the culprit," Lee responded coolly. She didn't want to get into trouble right now, so she tried to act calm so that James would become less agitated as well.

Her plan backfired, however, and James interpreted the way she distanced herself from the conversation as though she didn't care about the situation at all. He stared at her, incredulous, and muttered, "You really don't give a shit, do you?"

Okay, no use trying to get him to calm down. She was going to face him head on, then.

"Yes, I do, and you know that. But it's in the past now, and I truly am fine. What use will worrying about it do now?" she asked him and pulled him to the side so that they weren't blocking the entrance any longer.

"It shows that you were capable of doing it once, which means you might do it again someday. And then you might not be so lucky."

For once, Lee wasn't quite sure what to say, her smart mouth running off and leaving her behind. Only now did she realise the effects that her actions could have on other people, people who still cared about her wellbeing. She wasn't on her own anymore and had to be considerate of other people's feelings again. She didn't know whether this was something to happy over or not, though.

A sigh left her lips and her shoulders sagged, exhaustion suddenly washing over her. "Okay, you're right. I'm sorry, okay? Next time, I'll try to think things through more thoroughly."

James didn't look convinced yet. Instead, he crossed his arms over his chest and gave her another look that told her exactly that, after which she sighed again and lifted one hand into the air. "I promise."

Knowing that Lee always kept her promises, James now let his posture relax, a burden being lifted from his shoulders.

"Thank you," he said, a small smile appearing on his face. "Now let's get you home, alright?"

Now it was her turn to give the man an incredulous stare. "You've got to be kidding me, right? I've just been cooped up inside this shitty place for I don't even want to know how long and you're sending me home the minute I'm free? We're going to the office right now to figure something out about this case, got it?"

But James countered her defiance with another look that gave her no room for objections. The fact that she actually had nothing to say in response at the seriousness in his face made her wonder what had happened to the young, inexperienced boy who used to be so easy for her to push around all the time. Had he grown up so much since the last time she had properly evaluated his personality?

"How many more times do I have to tell you that you should rest more often? You're so stubborn, it's more likely you'll kill yourself, and not some psycho murderer whose case you're investigating," James retorted, but the expression on his face told her he wasn't done with persuading her just yet.

With a roll of her eyes, Lee leaned with her back against the wall of the hospital she had been standing next to. "Fine. Humour me, if you must."

James held up a finger in the air, the seriousness now taken over by a hint of amusement showing in his eyes. "Our third case together, the case after which you stopped calling me 'puppy'. You remember that, don't you?"

"You expect me to forget one of my cases, James? You disappoint me, _puppy_," she replied with a grin before recounting, "The Chopper. Sick guy who liked to chop up women and spread the body parts all over the city."

"Yes. And you had gotten so deep into it, you 'forgot' to eat, drink and sleep and ended up fainting on my doorstep when you came to collect me for another interrogation. I had to take care of you for a week because you refused to go to the hospital and threatened to get the Chief to fire me if I did so."

"Okay, fine, that was just stupid. But you've got to admit, I've improved since then."

James shook his head and added another finger to the one he was still holding high. "Our twelfth case. That guy who kidnapped young girls, instead tying dogs to the spot where he had taken them, leaving a note with a clue in their collars."

Lee frowned at the mention of that and wondered out loud, "Wait, I don't remember anything unusual happening there?"

"No? Well, that's because it had been raining all week and you had been out and about almost all day. You had gotten quite sick, so sick that you didn't even call into work for a few days. Nobody knew what had happened to you until I decided to check up on you, finding you half dead on your bed. You actually finished that case while you were sick... With my help, of course."

"Ah, so that explains why I never could properly remember how the twelfth case had been solved. Proves just what a genius I am, I guess," she gloated as she ran a hand through her hair.

"Boss... The point is, you need to take better care of yourself. I could stand here all day, naming all the cases where something went wrong because you neglected your health. And that's why I'm now going to take you home and tell the Chief to fire you if he sees you at the office in the next three days," James threatened, finally lowering his hand.

"Wait, you can't actually make him do that, I'm the best man he has!" she told him, but he ignored her and merely started making his way towards his car.

Having no other choice but to follow him, that was exactly what she did, asking him about his threat all the way. When he didn't respond to anything she said, she gave up with a sigh.

"Fine, I promise to look after myself better now. At least, I'll _try_ to. But you know how fired up I can get when I want to solve a case," she muttered.

"Yes, I know that better than anybody else. But you're not on your own anymore, haven't been for years, so please just rely on me a bit more. You'll see just how useful I've become thanks to your Spartan training," James finally replied. The smile on his face managed to cheer her up a little, too.

"Of course you're useful. You've been trained by the very best, after all."

"Now that's pushing it."

"It's only the truth."

"..."

"If you can't handle the truth, you shouldn't have become my assistant. You know that."

"Don't you have a murderer you want to capture by luring him out?"

"Yes, but weren't you listening during this whole conversation where I promised to be more careful from now on?"

"Damn it all."


	8. Vision Driver

**[A/N] Jeralee: **Ah yes, I understand that. I remember reading your A/N about that and I think I tried to review to cheer you up a little, though I'm not 100% sure about that, but I never knew their behaviour was that bad D: About reader-inserts: 'officially' they're not allowed on here, but I posted one anyway. I thought I'd switch this story to third person to see if more people would be willing to read it, but Devil May Cry is a big fandom so I don't think it's a very fair 'experiment' xD And I'm glad that you like James and Lee's interactions with him! Most of the negative reviews I received from my other 'popular' story were about how the story didn't revolve 100% around the pairing and they wanted more romance and no story =_= So I'm happy to hear you like them :D

* * *

One night, many fruitless attempts to sleep and a haze-induced frenzy with so many images, possibilities and thoughts concerning the case flitting about in front of her later, Lee was lounging on the couch that stood perfectly in the middle of her living room. On the elegant saloon table placed exactly half a metre away from the sofa, piles of papers were stacked on top of each other, most of them not scientific, instead concerning myths about 'demons' and the like. After all, what she might have seen could've been hallucinated because of the pain, and Dante might be a lying bastard. That still didn't explain the reason why she had been in pain in the first place, so she continued to search for a logical answer, if such a thing even existed in the first place.

An old grandfather clock that stood in the middle of two large bookshelves situated behind her couch chimed twelve o'clock, bringing her out of her reading frenzy.

"Damn," she muttered under her breath as she realised that she had forgotten to take her medication, and that it might be time to put on some new bandages. She hadn't done so the evening before; she just hadn't felt like doing it and had 'forgotten' it.

Not like she actually felt like doing it right now, but she thought that maybe she didn't need any additional 'quirks', like an irrational fear of germs, by neglecting her wounds and causing them to become infected.

Getting up from her spot after neatly placing the book she had been reading on the table, she made her way towards her kitchen and hoped that she hadn't left the needed supplies upstairs in the bathroom or her bedroom. She had found that her physical form had deteriorated quite horribly since the 'attack'. Normally, she could have climbed the usual flight of stairs to the upper floor of her house in but a few strides without a problem, but now she found that she had to take it slow and steady, and even then she was practically gasping for breath when she was finally upstairs. And she _hated_ doing things slow and steady.

Much to her relief, Lee found her medicine next to the basin and a few fresh rolls of bandages and whatever else she needed in one of her cupboards. She had to ask James to bring her some more next time he planned on coming around, which was sure to be soon enough, knowing his worrywarting ass.

By now, her body was slowly starting to protest against movement again, so she quickly swallowed whatever pills the doctor had told her to take with a glass of water. Once she had gotten that out of the way, she pulled off her shirt, folded it and placed it on the dinner table, her bra following it, albeit much slower because the strap shifted uncomfortably over the wound.

As she made her way back to the couch with the bandages and whatnot, she gingerly pulled off the dressing so that she could inspect the damage done to her body. She wasn't quite sure whether she was supposed to be glad that it looked okay - as okay as such a wound could possibly look, anyway - or to be disappointed because it hadn't been a dream and it was still there.

Lee placed the dressing with its dirty side up on one of her books on the table and dropped the fresh supplies on the couch before sitting down herself.

Though she had told that nurse she knew how to change her bandages, she actually had no clue as to what she was supposed to do. She unrolled one of the bandages until she held one long piece of cloth in the air, and then she realised that she was supposed to put on the dressing first. Still, how was she supposed to wind that whole bandage around her torso and shoulder if she couldn't properly move the arm attached to her wounded shoulder?

The answer presented itself to her when she heard a tapping on her window to her left, where the backdoor was. Forgetting the fact that she was half-naked, and not really caring either, she straightened her back and turned slightly to see who it was.

She was surprised to see Dante leaning against the window, his hands shaped like a binocular placed in front of his face to help him look inside. She could almost feel his gaze meet hers, and a shiver ran through her body as she was reminded to her meeting with Atlas, when she had felt its stare as well.

When Dante realised that she wasn't wearing anything, he made a sound that seemed like a grunt, jumped back and tried to act as nonchalantly as possible, whistling as he did so. With a smile at his antics, Lee shook her head and forsook collecting the rest of her clothes in the kitchen. He had seen her now, so what did it matter? Plus, this would be the perfect opportunity to bully the man a little.

She opened the door and Dante spun around, expecting that she had made herself look decent again. Instead, he froze at the sight of her breasts, his mouth wide open in what he had planned would be his greeting.

A smirk graced her features as she stood there in the doorway, leaning against the door. For good measure, she crossed her arms, for this one time under her breasts.

Her victory was short-lived, however, and it took the man shorter than she had expected to get back on track. "Are you happy to see me or are you just cold?"

Feeling bold, probably because of those medications or something, she laughed and gave him the satisfaction of not answering that question. And after all, she felt uncomfortable with lying.

"I didn't prepare for your arrival, if that's what you're thinking. I was actually just about to put on some new bandages, but I kind of got stuck. Your perfect timing might be able to help me out," she finally said as she stepped aside to let him in.

His eyes ventured higher, towards her shoulder, and he let out a low whistle. "That looks worse than I had expected."

"Yeah, well, what're you gonna do?" Lee shrugged with one shoulder and closed the door behind him.

"By the way, didn't the nurses show you how to refresh your bandages yourself?" Dante asked her as he ventured farther into her home.

"I have more important things to remember than how to do something like that," the other responded while she made her way back over to the kitchen, planning on fetching him something to drink. Maybe if she acted like a nice hostess, he would help her in return.

Dante didn't respond for he was too busy feeling slightly taken aback by the perfection with which the woman's room had been furnished. To his right were the two large bookcases with the grandfather clock in the middle. Both bookcases were filled from top to bottom, though he noticed many of them now also filled the saloon table. Upon closer inspection, he would see that each and every book had its assigned spot, of course in alphabetical order. His fingers twitched at the perfection at it, but Lee could practically feel the disturbance his thoughts were causing from all the way over in the kitchen.

"Don't even think about it!"

Dante gulped and kept his hands clasped behind his back as he continued exploring.

The couch must have been placed in the middle of the room, and he wouldn't even be surprised if Lee had crawled around with a tapeline to realise this. He was also sure that there was some kind of correlation between the position of the saloon table to the couch, or something else in the room. There was another, smaller armchair placed at what Dante guessed to be a perfect ninety degrees angle with the couch, which had the same colour, and had the same amount of distance between it and the table. Under these pieces of furniture was a circle rug: faded, old, and - surprise surprise - in perfect harmony with the rest of the room, filling up just enough of the room for the table, couch and matching armchair to stand on, but not touching anything else.

To the right of the sofa was the front door, and by its sides stood two plants that even he could discern were fakes. Lee probably didn't have enough time to take care of real ones, he presumed. He didn't acknowledge the rest of the room, finding that looking around hurt his eyes. To the front of the couch was the opening to the kitchen - no door - where Lee was just coming out of, holding a glass of lemonade.

"Didn't have anything else," she stated before he could complain about not wanting that, giving him no other choice than to accept it.

"Wow, thanks," Dante responded with a grin before placing it somewhere on the saloon table where he was sure she might not get mad at him.

Then he motioned towards the couch and waited for her to sit down before he joined her.

"Come on, let's get this over with," he suggested, wanting to get Lee's too large amount of flesh out of his sight. Not that he didn't like seeing what he saw, he just found it a little uncomfortable when the one showing all the flesh acted like it was nothing. Couldn't she at least act overly comfortable and smug, and not as though she were still actually wearing something?!

Lee obliged and quickly turned her head away so that her hair wouldn't get in the way while he grabbed the dressing and other needed things. Though Dante thought she acted as if this were nothing, deep inside she was burning red in embarrassment. Not that her mind agreed with this, just that her body was writhing underneath the level of self-control she could practice over it. The worst thing was that she didn't even know why it reacted like this when it came to Dante. Dante was work, he would leave her life as soon as this was over. She had never felt like this with anybody else, so why all of a sudden right now, and with a guy she had only seen a handful of times nonetheless? It would have even been more logical to suddenly feel attracted to _James_, after years of knowing and being around him.

Dante's fingertips brushed against the skin of her shoulder as he pressed the sides of the dressing to make it stay put. As he did so, he felt a tiny tremor beneath his fingers and frowned at the sudden tension hanging in the air. With a shrug, he dubbed it 'crazy women stuff' and went to grab the rolls of bandages, starting with the unwound one she had dropped on the couch earlier.

All the while, Lee stared straight ahead at the bookshelves behind the couch, her eyes roaming over the various titles she had gathered over the course of the years. Then she inspected the clock, going over the decorations on it. She could probably draw it without looking at it by now, having examined and stared at it for so many times. Quite ironically, she had gotten the grandfather clock from her grandfather, who had been the most important person in her life, right up until his death.

He had been the only one to accept Lee as she was, like her parents never could. No, they much preferred her sister, who wasn't quite normal either, but she was at least better than Lee was, according to their parents. Not that it mattered any more. Both her parents had died in a 'tragic' accident, but she hadn't even bothered going to their funeral, hadn't had contact with the rest of her family since. Except for her grandfather. But he, too, was long gone, so all of it didn't matter.

"Yoohoo, anybody home?" Dante inquired, snapping his fingers in front of her face.

With a shake of her head, Lee brought herself back to this time and age, all sentimental thoughts leaving her mind as you did so.

"Right, thanks. Let me put my clothes back on," she mumbled, abruptly getting up without waiting for another word to leave Dante's mouth.

In the kitchen, she put her clothes back on as slowly as she could, just to have something to do. When she had straightened her shirt, she let out a long breath and ran a hand through her hair.

"Get yourself together, damn," she told herself with a slap to her cheeks before joining Dante again on the sofa.

"So, why are you here, actually? How did you even get my address in the first place?" Lee asked him, suddenly realising that it would've been all to convenient if he had just stopped by in that exact moment she needed some help with her bandages. She might be a little slower than usual because of all the meds in her system, but that didn't mean she was stupid.

"I just wanted to tell you that I've been looking out for that bastard and that I haven't sensed, seen or smelled him since you got hospitalised," Dante replied, handily leaving out the part of how he knew where she lived. Probably had gotten it out of James, anyway.

"Wait, you can smell like that?" Lee wondered out loud. She hadn't met any other so-called 'half-demons', after all, and she was going to make the most out of her acquaintance with this one.

"Why does that one interest you, but not the sensing part? No, I can't really smell better. Or see better, either. Sorry to disappoint you. Hearing, on the other hand..."

She held up a hand to silence him, not needing to hear him say any more to know that he was on his way to say something dirty. The pout on his face told her that she had been right, but something else was on her mind now.

"The people at the hospital..." she began, a frown on her face all of a sudden.

"You mean the doctors and nurses? They're kind people, you know. Save people for a living and all that," Dante intercepted and held his hands up defensively when Lee shot him a glare.

"Yes, and I make my living catching the people who might kill them for a living, while guys like you do... I don't even know what you do for a living," she retorted, but she wasn't particularly interested. Or she had just figured it out by herself, judging by the huge sword he had lugged around in the night he fought Atlas. Or just simply by the way how he had fought Atlas in the first place.

"Glad you asked, I-"

Lee silenced him by pressing her finger to his lips. "Those _nurses_ and _doctors_ at the hospital, right? What did you tell them about what happened?"

Dante shrugged and waited for her to retract her hand so his mouth once more had free reign. "Your boy-"

"_James_."

"-said that your Chief-dude had explained it to them. Told them some drunk with a sickle had attacked you," he finished.

"What about my head-wound?" she asked, growing more confused with every passing second.

When Atlas had thrown her against the wall, her head had smacked against the bricks. Luckily, it had been less hard than it had felt and all that remained of it was now a scab, hidden under her hair. She vaguely remembered a nurse commenting on how surprised she had been that she hadn't fared any worse, that even a concussion had been avoided. Or something like that, Lee hadn't really paid attention to every single word those ladies had told her.

"Uh, what had it been? Something about falling over and hitting the ground, I think?" Dante offered with a small grin, feeling a little ashamed that he hadn't really listened to what James had told him. At least one of them was.

Before she could say anything more, he asked, "Why does it matter, anyway? He couldn't have known, right? What else should he have said?"

Another sharp look from Lee told him that that he, once again, was wrong. "It matters a lot. He couldn't have known what had happened, so he _had_ to make something up. But why, then, a sickle? How could he have known that my wound had such a shape? Had it really been that obvious?"

She suddenly remembered how nervous the Chief had been when he had entered her hospital room to tell her that he'd be taking her off the case. And then, in a flash, she thought back to Atlas's reaction once he had gotten close enough to recognise her face. He had almost backed down. And he had kept his eyes covered; had that been to cover up his human-like eyes? Lee quickly stopped herself from thinking any further, not actually wanting to conclude anything without proper evidence. But with all these connections practically staring her in the face, that might be a difficult thing to do.

"Hm, now that I think about it, he didn't even get to see the wound itself. I had been there all the time, from when they took you in till after they had patched you up, there was no way he could have seen it. Unless he... no, they wouldn't allow visitors if you had to take off your shirt for new bandages," Dante added, slowly catching onto her drift. "Do you really...?"

He didn't finish his sentence, but he didn't have to. Lee looked him dead in the eye, and despite realising she might be uncovering personal information about himself that he might not want to reveal, asked him, "Can demons take on the form of a human?"

Dante burst out in laughter, having felt the sudden uneasiness lingering in her voice. "No, I mean yes, I mean..."

"What's so funny?" she grumbled, crossing her arms and glaring at the man.

"Nothing," Dante managed between chuckles as his fit died down, "Just, you being _considerate_ of someone."

He went on laughing softly while Lee reprimanded herself for going soft on this bastard. "Fine! Are you in reality a hideous monster, though it might not be much of a setback compared to what your current appearance is. Couldn't you have chosen something more appealing?"

"Ouch!" He held his hand over his heart, all laughter suddenly gone. "I, for one, think this especially _fleshy_ body I have chosen has become quite a hit with the average human lady..."

A raised eyebrow from Lee made the mirth that could still be heard in his voice leave, too, and he coughed softly. "Okay, fine. This is my one and only appearance. Other demons can change their shape, though. Not all, but some."

"Thank you," she responded with a nod, rubbing her chin as her mind started racing.

Could it really be possible that her boss, her Chief, had been a demon in human form all this time? But then why had he only just recently started eating humans? Had the real Chief been killed by Atlas and then replaced by him?

"Damn, looking at you think makes my brain hurt. I guess I'll get going then, leave you to all that mental working out and do another round of the city," Dante announced as he got up.

Lee turned her mind off for a second to look up and say, "Yes, that would be great. Thanks." Immediately after, she went back to staring ahead of herself as various scenarios unfolded themselves inside her head.

Dante shook his head and shrugged his shoulders before leaving through the backdoor, muttering something like, "What have I gotten myself into?"

Half an hour later, Lee got up to find a book she needed, beelining towards her section for authors whose last name starting with an _R_. Her hand had already been lifted into the air, her body having remembered exactly where what book was and expecting to feel the designated cover... Only to grab air.

She checked if she was in the right place, just in case... And finding that she was indeed searching in the right spot, her eyebrows dipped down into an angry frown.

"DANTE, YOU PIECE OF SHIT!"


	9. Connections

**[A/N] Jeralee: **good to know, I strive to write things that are easily imagined and understandable! In my opinion, there's nothing worse than having to read the same sentence over and over again, trying to understand who's doing what. Their bantering is fun to write too! Though I believe that everything from Dante's side has been rather superficial until now, and Lee actually walked right into a trap that Dante had accidentally set up. Don't worry though, I have some plans for poor Dante! This is the last chapter to have been posted on Ghosts of the Vanguard as well, and so from now on I'll be updating weekly on Wednesday~

* * *

A few more days passed by rather peacefully and Dante-freely, if one ignored the random panic attacks Lee got when she thought something might or might not be out of place. In those moments, she would force James to drop everything he happened to be doing to help her out and make sure everything was just as he had remembered it and that she had just moved something herself without knowing it. At least she never had a shortage of dressings and bandages, for she would order him to bring another pack with him whenever she called him over. This might sum up the happiness the poor boy felt when she was finally allowed to come back to work again.

The night before, however, made her own happiness at being allowed to return to work waver when, in its preparing for another workday, her body wouldn't allow her mind some much-needed rest. With her body itself being tired since her encounter with Atlas, she had slept like never before and had managed to forget about this little thing people called insomnia. However, now that she was able to walk up and down the stairs a few times without breaking a sweat again, her body no longer wanted to sleep and her ability to fall asleep like normal people could disappeared with her physical weariness. She had somehow forgotten what it felt like, lying in bed and just being incapable of closing her eyes and drifting off into a quiet sleep, turning this way and that, not sure whether she was too cold or too warm.

She despised the little bottle of sleeping pills she always kept in her nightstand and glowered at it as she fetched it out of its drawer. She had hoped that somehow, with her meeting devils and demons and all that, she might have somehow been cured of her ailment, but it seemed that she had no such luck.

In the palm of her hand she weighed a tab, and finding it not to be the exact right weight, put it back and repeated the procedure with a second, third, and eventually a fourth pill. Finally, the feeling of the fifth tablet felt satisfactory in her hand and she popped it into her mouth, hoping it would do its job sooner rather than later.

Forcing her mind to remain blank during the next few sleepless hours, she didn't really know when she drifted off and how well she slept, though when she woke up but a few hours later, she felt horrible.

Rolling out of bed, she cursed every fibre inside of her and then some. Her brain only began to function again once she had had breakfast and a cup of coffee, after which she got dressed for work.

Despite the terrible night, she stood just outside her door at the exact same time as every other day when she went to work. Of course after having checked a few times that all the lights and taps were off, the oven out, the backdoor locked and that she had her wallet, phone and keys with her.

Nobody looked up in surprise when she walked into the office at exactly nine o'clock, save for James, who just as always came running in at the last moment, knowing that she didn't tolerate latecomers. She didn't want to think about what time he had strolled in through those doors in the past few days during her absence. It was time to bring some order in this chaos once more.

"You've been gone for a few days and you still maintain that pattern of yours?" he panted, hands on his knees as sweat dripped down his face.

Today his condition was worse than usual. He had forgotten that today would be her first day back at work, then, and remembered at the last possible moment that she was to return today.

Lee shook her head at him and without saying a word walked farther into the building to make her way towards her office, the still-panting boy hot on her heels. Like she would lose her way of doing things in only a few days of absence. How foolish.

Once he had regained some of his breath, James began to ask her various questions about how she was feeling and such. Others who also worked at the police office asked much the same questions as he did and she happily ignored all of them as she continued to stride towards the door that first led to James's, and then to her room. Not forgetting to check her pockets just before entering, and then again for her own door, she let herself fall into her chair, swirling it around a few times as she relished the feeling of being back at work.

James, finally having won back his breath, stood in the doorway and smiled at the happy look on her face. He didn't even bother feeling confused when it came to her sudden mood swings, having gotten used to them a long time ago. He was just glad that she was back where she belonged.

"When you're ready, Chief told me to tell you that he has some paperwork for you," James informed her when she was done playing with her chair. "Doesn't want you up and running around doing other cases yet, or so he told me. Or we don't have anything right now."

Lee raised an eyebrow at him, her relief for being back in her workplace dwindling as she let her mind run over the information a few more times. Ugh, paperwork. The only bad thing that came with this job. She was here for the panic-induced marathons through the city, trying to find the culprit as fast as possible. She lived for the adrenaline coursing through her veins, loved the way her mind was constantly pressing itself to work faster and do more at the same time.

With a dejected sigh, her shoulder slumped down considerably as she hung her head. "Fine..."

James looked up from hanging his coat on the rack in his room, surprised at how quick she had given in.

"What, you're not going to complain?" he asked, just to be sure that he wasn't dreaming this up or anything.

She shrugged and swirled around one more time before answering, "It's not like I have any say in this matter. He'll probably try to threaten me again if I were to go against his wishes."

James nodded at that, seeing the logic in it.

"And anyway, I can't exactly steal a case or pick a new one up in secret. He's probably got the whole thing on lockdown, just for me. Besides, I still have some work to finish."

A groan left James's throat before he could stop himself, and now it was his turn to hang his head. "I had hoped that you might have forgotten all about it..."

Lee quirked an eyebrow at him and shook her head. "You actually believed I would forget something? That was case-related, too? Have you gone completely mad while I was gone?"

James grinned an innocent smile and closed the door before she could say any more, sitting at his own desk to finish some paperwork as well. His workdays had become quite boring, too, with the lack of a case and her absence.

"Have you had any contact with you-know-who?" she yelled through the door, not daring to use the proper name of who she was referring to.

"Yes. He said he'd be around, in case you needed him. And doing his own search, too, or something like that," the door replied and she nodded to herself again.

She swirled the chair around a few more times before opening a drawer. She frowned when she noticed that it was empty. The Chief had indeed said something about taking away all her notes for the next person to receive her case. The thought sent a shot through her stomach and she just couldn't bear to think any longer about it. That case had been hers and hers alone, and it felt so wrong that someone else would get to finish it in her stead.

Still, she wouldn't give up that easily.

Using her nails to lift what looked like the bottom of an empty drawer, a triumphant grin found its way to her face. The notes that she had hidden there, just in case, were still where they belonged. Her fingers itched to write down her new findings, especially the story that Dante had told her, so for now she left the notes where they were and pulled out a new sheet of paper.

If the Chief was going to take away her case, then he sure as Hell shouldn't expect that she was going to do what he told her, when he told her to do it. He bloody well could wait another few hours for her to fetch her paperwork from his office. She could do slow and steady if it was to annoy someone.

She thought that as the grin turned into a smirk and she began to write her new findings down, starting with the Legendary Dark Knight named Sparda, husband of Eva, father of Vergil and Dante.

* * *

With the way she took her time to jot down her notes - elaborating on every small detail lest she might forget what she meant while she was writing it down and making many detours of side stories that didn't actually have anything to do with the case but that she still wanted down on paper, just in case it might offer a solution later on - it indeed took her several hours before she stuffed the new stack of papers into the secret compartment of the drawer.

The smug smile still on her face, she got up and only just then she realised that she still had her coat on. A shiver ran down her spine at the thought while she frowned at the fabric encasing her clothes. She tried to push the need to correct this error away, but it didn't work, so with a sigh she got up and made her way to the door.

Doing her pocket ritual, she left the door and walked by a confused James, who asked what had happened but didn't receive a response. She did the same with his door, and repeated it when she left the building. Once outside, she counted to ten inside her head, turned around and made her way back inside.

James didn't even look up this time when she entered again, having guessed that something had gone wrong.

Inside her own office, she let out a sigh and pulled off her coat, hanging it over the back of her chair like she should. She nodded in satisfaction before making her way back out of the office. James merely waved at her without looking up, so she didn't return the gesture. Not that she would have if he had looked up, or anything.

And then she made her way towards the Chief's office, taking as much time as she could possibly take without tripping over her feet at her own slowness. Being kind to people was a living Hell to her; she could do it if she really, really, _really_ wanted it, though most likely if she needed something. Annoying the shit out of people, on the other hand, came to her like breathing did: she didn't have to think about what she was doing, it just happened when she wasn't paying attention. And when she did pay attention, it only became the sweeter and more annoying, depending on which side one was on.

When she raised her hand to known on Chief's door, she stilled her movement when she heard voices coming from inside. Normally, she wasn't one for eavesdropping, but she happened to make out that the people inside were discussing her very own case.

Something about a raccoon problem getting out of hand, but the words that came afterwards were what surprised her most.

"What will you have us do?" It was a voice that Lee couldn't recognise, but that didn't matter at the moment.

"You know what you have to do. Just make sure it stays a raccoon problem. The truth isn't supposed to be revealed, no matter the cost. Pin it on someone else if need be." That was most definitely the Chief's voice.

Lee sucked in some air, not sure whether she was supposed to feel shocked or confused at the news. Or whether she had gotten it all wrong and she was jumping to conclusions.

Whatever the case, the conversation inside halted for a few moments before they continued quieter than before. She shook her head to get her out of her stupor and let her knuckles fall against the wooden door in a weak attempt to knock.

"Ah, that must be my favourite detective, finally here to pick up her paperwork," the Chief announced, talking even louder than before. "We'll have to continue this conversation at a later point in time, understood?"

No response came and she could only hear footsteps coming towards her. In that moment, she remembered that she might have to wipe the weird look off her face and make sure she looked like she always did. Neutral. Or maybe bored? She couldn't quite remember.

She chose neutral just as the door opened, and she stepped aside to let two officers that she had never seen before leave. She eyed them, pretended it to be out of curiosity though she was filled with suspicion. After all, she had never seen these guys before, and she was pretty sure she could remember at least the face of every single person working in this building. Even the cleaning ladies.

The first one to leave had short blond hair, spiked with an obviously large amount of gel, making it almost seem shiny. He wasn't very large, only a bit taller than Lee was, but she saw that he certainly didn't lack in the muscles department. His pale blue eyes swept over her for a few seconds before he looked ahead of him and left without another word.

His companion had flat, black hair that barely reached his ears, where it curled a little outwards. He had dark, calculating eyes, and Lee almost shivered as his gaze met hers for a split second.

She always thought that she lacked emotions on the outside, but seeing the empty pits that were his eyes, she felt that she had just gotten competition in that department.

Still, she watched him follow his buddy, noting that he could easily be far taller than anybody she had ever met until then. She tried not to connect the tiny part of a conversation she had managed to catch and their physique. If the plan formulating itself inside her head actually held a kernel of truth, she could only imagine herself dying by the hands of those men. And she didn't believe that they did quick, painless deaths.

The Chief called her, pulling her out of her reverie as he waved her inside. "Come, I have a lot of paperwork for you to do."

Lee nodded and entered the office, not closing the door behind her. She didn't know why, but she felt like a seed of fear had been planted inside of her at the words she had heard. Leaving the door open seemed to give her a chance of escape if anything went wrong.

"I imagine James has already told you my plans for-" he stopped himself and tilted his head to the side. "Say, are you alright? You look a little pale?"

She wasn't sure if it was her mind playing tricks on her, but was that the corner of his mouth that twitched upwards in a smirk? She shook her head, trying to get the craziness of the whole situation out of her head when she realised she had just been asked a question.

"Eh, I mean, yes, I'm fine. Just, eh, getting used to working again. I guess." She almost kicked herself for the abomination that sentence had been. Here she had always prided herself in having a smart mouth and a quick brain to boot, but that might have been the worst thing she had ever said since learning how to speak.

The Chief quirked an eyebrow, probably thinking the same thing but he shrugged it off as he handed her her humongous stack of paper. She couldn't grimace at the amount of it, though, having been captivated by the way his eyes seemed to shimmer a strange shade of purple if she looked at them just right, or the way his hands felt scaly as they touched hers.

What on Earth was going on here?

Her heart pounded against her chest and she feared it might free itself through her skin, so she quickly nodded her head, turned on her heel and rushed out of the office to make her way towards her own.

Only when she was inside her own room, having passed an absentminded James again on her way through his, did Lee allow herself to calm herself down. Dropping the papers to the ground in front of her after having closed the door, she sank to the floor with her back against the wood of it and held her head in her hands.

What on Earth was going on here?


	10. The Things We've Seen

"So, let me get this straight," Dante began, eyes narrow as he ran Lee's theory through his mind a few times. "You want to tell me that that Chief guy of yours is actually Atlas in hiding because you managed to overhear bits and pieces of a conversation of his?"

"And he knew details he shouldn't have known about my attack. And those bits and pieces of that conversation had been about making sure that something stays a raccoon problem, and that the truth isn't supposed to be revealed," she retorted with a sigh. "Actually, the exact words were: "Just make sure it stays"-"

Dante waved his hand around in her face, interrupting her. She had to refrain herself from biting him, lest he might let it get to his head that he seemed to be the only person alive whose closeness she could tolerate, if only barely.

"I know what the exact words were. You've already told me, oh I dunno, thrice today. But what makes you so sure that they were talking about _your_ raccoon problem?" He stared at her, squinting his eyes even further. There was something else, and he knew it. And he knew what that was, too, but he just liked to put her on the spot.

And Lee knew that, but it couldn't be that hard to figure out, going by the amused twinkle that always seemed to shine in his eyes just when he had planned something horrible for her.

She let out a sigh, knowing she wouldn't get his full support if she didn't give him this guilty pleasure. "Because my instinct tells me this. I get goose bumps whenever I'm in his presence, something that only started since the whole Atlas ordeal... I guess his presence had never endangered me. But now it has and I can recognise it. Now go and have your laugh."

Crossing her arms and glaring at the white-haired bastard, who had started gloating at her even before she had told him he could do so, she realised how stupid this instinct bullshit was. Especially when it came from her, someone who hammered on about scientific evidence and whatnot all the time. James would be having an 'I told you so' party if he knew about this.

"_Anyway_." Lee coughed to get the Devil Hunter's attention once more. "I was thinking of how I could-"

Dante frowned at her sudden freezing, snapping his fingers in front of her eyes a few times when his calls didn't seem to reach her mind. "Don't tell me you're actually a machine and have to be wound up every so many hours to work again. Though... I have to be honest and say that it wouldn't really surprise me. And I'm insulted that you haven't told me earlier, I'd be glad to wind you up whenever you-"

The scowl she shot his way for once happened to be enough to silence him and he muttered under his breath, "Great, she has a restart button."

"He was grinning when I entered the room after hearing him say that. For what had appeared to be no reason. Ugh, why hadn't I thought of that sooner?!" she yelled, pinching herself as though to punish herself for her own dumbness.

"Woah, woah, hadn't thought of what sooner?" Dante caught her hands in his to prevent her from hurting herself again.

"Don't you get it? He was grinning because he was confident in his case. It doesn't matter if I find out whether or not he's Atlas. Nobody will believe me if I claim that our boss is some demon who can change into a human! They all think I'm crazy enough as is, they're practically waiting for something like this to happen and to put me in a mental institution!"

"Okay, calm down," Dante said, still holding Lee's hands but she hadn't seemed to notice. He shook her arms a little to try and bring her back to reality, concern filling his eyes. "All you have to do is find evidence, right? How about start with those two men you saw leaving his office?"

She shook her head. "No, that's exactly it. I don't have any evidence, and he's going to kill me before I get any, too. You were right all along, I shouldn't have gotten myself involved with these stupid raccoons."

"I have to agree with you on the fact that raccoons are horrible beasts, but believe me when I say you're not going to die. I won't let him, okay? And didn't you say something about raising suspicion if you were to die?" Dante retorted.

When he didn't get an immediate answer out of her, he shook her hands about again, which finally made her realise he was still holding them in the first place.

Tugging herself free from his grasp, she shook your head again. "There are many ways to kill someone while making it look like an accident. Haven't you ever watched television?"

"Hey, don't lecture me on watching television. And just don't get into situations where you can die in an accident," Dante suggested with a grin.

At that, Lee raised an eyebrow at him. "You mean to tell me to stay indoors all day and get James to do my grocery shopping and all? No, thank you very much."

"Or you could stay with me," Dante offered in a low voice, his grin turning his a smirk as he drew closer to her. His expression was unreadable and she could feel herself turn red at the amount of lust that he seemed to be secreting all of a sudden.

"Y-you mean to suggest that I live in that hole you call a home, or office, or whatever?" She almost slapped herself at stuttering.

Dante pouted and backed away from her, feigning a hurt look. "I, for one, think it gives it a very personal and cosy feeling."

"If you mean 'personal' and 'cosy' as in, 'Hey let's do it on this couch', then I guess you've hit the nail right on the head," Lee shot back at him, looking rather disgusted at the image that had appeared inside her mind. Of course it had to insert _herself_ and him on that dirty couch, giving her shivers of both the turned on and turned off kind. She hadn't known this guy for so long and already was he giving her such conflicted feelings.

"I liked it better when you were all blushing and stammering. Though while you're at it, you could use that sharp tongue of yours for-"

"No! Get out!" she all but screamed at him, pointing towards her backdoor.

"What crawled up your ass all of a sudden?" Dante retorted with a grin as he made his way out and Lee merely watched him go, knowing that whatever she wanted to say would only come back to bite her instead.

Once she had slammed the door closed, she rested her forehead against the wood to collect her thoughts for a few seconds. Immediately forgetting Dante's existence, her mind went back to the Chief, the hopelessness of it all washing over her.

She couldn't tell anybody about this because they'd think her crazy. Even if she did manage to somehow find evidence for her theory... It would remain hard for the average human being to comprehend the situation. People could be stupid like that.

But she couldn't just get up and find said evidence, which would still help her more than her silly claim could, for she had been taken off the job and that would raise suspicion. Even with a certain half-demon out there trying to help her, who knew how long it would take before Atlas killed her or she managed to catch him.

A knock from her front door startled her and she twirled around, her heart almost in her throat just as she repeated her last thought to herself. She grabbed her gun from its holster and held it behind her back before making her way to open the door.

Fearing to see the face of the Chief, intent on getting her out of his way, relief and irritation flooded her when she saw it was Dante, instead.

"What do you want now?" she asked him.

Her armed hand now hung by her side and Dante eyed her gun before directing his gaze back at her. "You expecting company?"

"No, I-"

Lee's snarky response was cut off as a pair of lips crashed to hers, her eyes going wide as she watched Dante watch her. He wrapped his arms around her waist, pulled her against him and started to probe at her shut mouth with his tongue, almost begging for entrance.

Torn between giving in to him and staying true to her mind, she stood there, frozen, not knowing what to do.

The situation resolved itself when, due to her inactivity, Dante gave up and pulled away. This had to count as a rejection for him, yet there was a smirk on his face when one of his fingers traced her lower lip, his expression unreadable.

"You know, just in case you're telling the truth and your Chief wants you dead. Wouldn't want you to die without having at least kissed someone, right?" And with a wink, he disappeared again, and this time she hoped he wouldn't start knocking at her backdoor in a few minutes.

Lee closed the door behind him, _again_. Having forgotten her predicament for a moment, she ran over his words a few more times, her mind incapable of pushing that look on his face away.

"I hate you, you idiot," she mumbled and touched her lips, where his had been but a few seconds ago.

She hated how her face had turned red, how she had frozen up and had been unable to push him away, or just to kiss him back while she had the chance. Hated how she - no, her body, she wouldn't acknowledge _he__rself_ enjoying such a barbaric activity - had seemed to enjoy the contact. Contact which she hadn't even thought that she would have, never thought she wanted to have, yet now she seemed to be yearning for more.

And somehow it hurt. Her first kiss, ever, and it had seemingly been given by this guy, the only guy ever who had managed or wanted to get this close to her, because he 'didn't want her to die without at least having kissed someone'.

But then again, he had said _at least_ kissed someone. Did that mean he was planning on going further?

Lee wasn't sure whether she was supposed to be happy or angry, so she just settled for pressing her free hand against her eyes in an attempt to hold back the sudden tears that were trying to escape.

Had she always felt this lonely?


	11. Reprise

**[A/N] Jeralee: **ehehe, what can I say! It wasn't planned, but Dante took matters in his own hand for that chapter, it seems. There'll be more soon! I just hope it will feel realistic from both sides. I fear that I won't be able to show Dante's growth in his feelings for Lee in a proper manner and that it'll just seem he loves her for the sake of the story... Let's hope that doesn't happen, though~!

* * *

A few fruitless days filled with nothing but horrid paperwork later, just before Lee could enter the office after having checked her pockets, James came rushing out through the front doors. Lee raised an eyebrow at how he was far too elated far too early in the morning, but he wouldn't wait for her to comment on it.

"C'mon Boss, Chief gave me a job for us to do and I thought you might appreciate it, with all the sitting inside you've been doing lately!" he exclaimed and gestured down the street with more energy than necessary.

When Lee's response was less enthusiastic than he had expected, his shoulders drooped down and he let out a long, sad sigh that made her fingers twitch in annoyance. He _knew_ she loathed it when he did that. She couldn't understand why he did it, though maybe the fact that it always seemed to work explained it... Well, bugger.

Lee gave him a smack up his head and with a scowl she grumbled, "Fine, fine, lead the way."

James's face brightened at her words and he grabbed the sleeve of her coat, ignoring her protests to let go in favour of dragging her down the street.

She had to admit, though, that she was actually quite grateful for his actions. He knew just as much as she did how she hated sitting inside with nothing but a pen in her hand. She wasn't meant to sit behind a desk, always too fidgety to stay still for longer than a few minutes if something didn't interest her enough. Why else had she become a detective in the first place? Why hadn't she ever bothered to check the other sides of the work as an officer of the law? Ah well, it was too late now anyway.

James led her through the city, always checking up on her wellbeing, though she had recovered most of what she had lost in the accident and could easily keep up with the young man.

"I'm glad to see you back on your feet as usual," he commented as he rounded another corner, in the direction of the city's centre. Lee wondered what the two of them could possibly have to do there.

"Yes, me too," Lee replied with a small smile.

She was just about to ask what the Chief had planned for the two of them when the sound of a lot of people bustling about reached her ears, together with bits and pieces of different kinds of music at the same time. She could also hear engines running and she paled at the sight before her.

"You've got to be kidding me, right?" There was no sign of her smile from a few seconds ago, all that was left was an expression of horror on her face.

Somehow, with all that had been going on lately, Lee had managed to forget that winter always brought that damned Christmas procession with it, every single year for as long as she could remember.

In front of her, the whole street was filled with people doing last-minute Christmas shopping, or just regular shopping, or eating food or drinking what was most likely Glühwein, or just enjoying the atmosphere with their friends and families. Huge, decorated Christmas... wagons or whatever were slowly driving around, people milling on and about them, throwing candy at the onlookers. Some interacted with the public by ushering them into dancing with them to the many Christmas songs that were being played through each other.

"Don't tell me Chief sent us here to make sure everything goes smoothly? Like any _ordinary_ police officer would have to do?" Lee moaned, her hands flying up to her head to cover her ears and eyes from the sight and noise.

If there was one thing she hated almost as much as being touched by people, it was _Christmas_, in which touching people was often included by being forced to shake their hands, and if not worse, to _hug_ them. The forcing a smile and trying to saying 'Merry Christmas and a happy New Year' in a way that it seemed like one meant it only added to her hatred. And no, it had nothing to do with the fact that each and every year, she got to spend this so-called time of 'family and happiness' all by herself.

"Please don't be mad at me," James begged. An innocent grin graced his face, and combined with those puppy eyes, the detective was torn between hating him and loving him. He knew her dislikes more than anybody else, having listened to her complaining more often than she could even remember, so it must have taken him a lot of inner debating to pull her out here.

"I just thought you'd like to get out for once."

Or maybe not.

Oh well, it was the thought that counted.

Lee let out a sigh and ran a hand through her hair. "Fine. What are our orders?"

James smiled, relief visible in his eyes. He turned away from his friend to face the crowd and stood on his tiptoes, using his hand to shield his eyes from any light. His gaze searched the street for what he sought... And he found it with a soft, "Aha!"

He pointed at something and Lee strained to see what he was gesturing at. Being shorter than he was, she failed miserably and had to let the boy lead her to their designated spot, wherever or whatever that might be.

It ended up being the market that started just down the street. Though it broadened out there, the addition of stalls still made for a rather cramped space, with all the people and the floats walking and driving about. James informed her that the Chief had told them to make sure nothing happened, for if chaos were to break out, that could have disastrous effects in such a packed street.

Lee groaned as she followed James on what he tried to call their first patrol. What was supposed to consist of watching over other citizens and making sure that everything went smoothly became looking after her own wallet and trying to not get squeezed to death by her surroundings. Throw in her general hatred of contact and one had a slightly distressed Lee, trying her best to keep _herself_ from falling into inner chaos.

James's hand encasing hers seemed to be the only thing keeping her connected to her sanity and she wondered since when she had gotten this close to the man. Or since when she had become able to tolerate his touch.

She imagined a tuff of white hair and grumbled at the memories it brought up. She was supposed to be angry with that bastard for what he had done, not thankful for all the good things he seemed to be doing for her. It didn't matter that he was checking the area for any signs of Atlas, seemingly selfless, for she was sure that someday he would come back for his payment... In whatever form suited him best. She shuddered at the thought of having to pay him with her body, but somehow she doubted that Dante was the kind of man to do that. She then began to chastise herself for her high thoughts of the half-demon, but instead opted to just concentrate on the task at hand.

Finally, James managed to find an opening in the crowd, only to realise that there was no way of maintaining order when the two of them couldn't see beyond the first layer of people surrounding them.

"We need to find some place higher," Lee offered him and began to look for place to do just that. She noted that she was starting to feel a little drained and was dismayed that her body remained so incapable, even days after her release.

James nodded in agreement and joined her in her search. Having that advantage of height, he soon spotted the perfect spot and tugged his partner along once more in the direction of one of the stalls. There, he had somehow managed to spot a stack of crates. He asked the owner of them for permission to use them, and after receiving it he started to pull some of the crates down so that Lee could climb on it.

"Is it stable enough?" he asked, only letting go of the pile when she gave him a slow nod, after which he set out to make his own crate-tower.

"Yes, this will work," she admitted with a curt nod, her eyes gliding over the bustle before her for any signs of disorder as she waited for James to join her in her height.

"Nice, two birds with one stone. We can look out _and_ have the best spots around at the same time!" he exclaimed happily, only to flail his arms around when his sudden bolt of energy sent his crates wobbling.

Lee rolled her eyes at his antics. "Don't you dare fall and break your neck. I am not going back to that hospital, even if it's to visit your stupid face."

Her partner stuck his tongue out at her once he had regained his balance. When he realised she wasn't going to react again, he looked back at the crowd. Having created a barrier between the two of them and the rest of the world, or so it seemed, he felt a strange silence hang in the air, despite being surrounded by festivities.

"Say..." he started, but stopped again, not sure how to ask what he wanted to know.

Lee hummed, signalling that she was listening to him and that he could continue. When he didn't, she averted her gaze from the celebrations to glance at James, who was staring at her in surprise.

"What?" she asked with a frown, to which he quickly shook his head.

"It's nothing... I just... You always hate it when I interrupt you when you're working."

"Ah," she breathed and then she shrugged, feeling that she knew what he wanted to ask her about. He was her disciple, after all, so it shouldn't be too hard for him to notice the things she noticed, too.

James shook his head to rid his mind of his own distracting thoughts and he started over. "I was just wondering how you and Dante were doing. You know, because you've changed, so I thought that maybe..."

His voice trailed off, allowing her to finish the sentence herself. The images it conjured made her cheeks turn a bright red. Even more embarrassing, it seemed to affect her body in places that had remained dormant until then.

She rubbed a hand over her face to hide her blush from her friend, who had already caught sight of it anyway. It made him flush, too, for he took it as a positive answer to his unasked question and he wasn't sure whether he should feel shocked or happy.

When Lee noticed his face through her fingers, she held up a hand to silence him before he could say anything else.

"No! It's not what you think! We haven't done anything. Well, anything like that..."

James caught himself sighing in relief, but then he eyed her suspiciously. "What do you mean with 'anything like that'? So you guys _have_ done something, haven't you?"

The other opened her mouth to respond, but froze as a familiar shiver ran down her spine, the hairs on the back of her neck standing up all of a sudden. When her mind comprehended the warning, her body relaxed and allowed her to investigate the crowd thoroughly to try and apprehend the reason for her distress.

"Boss? What's wrong?" James asked, having forgotten their previous conversation once he noticed the change in his friend's behaviour.

Just then, Lee caught sight of two heads, one blond and the other black, making their way through the crowd. Their eyes casually landed on her and moved away again as though they were just taking in their surroundings, but they couldn't fool her. The fact that she saw the Chief pushing his way through the group of people just behind them, in the direction of an alley, was a dead giveaway.

"James! Stay here!" she barked at the man as she jumped off her crate.

She almost stumbled to the ground as the stack wobbled and fell over at her sudden movements, but she caught herself at the last moment and began to force her way through the visitors as fast as she could.

"Boss! Boss!" James's confused voice followed her until all she could hear was the chatting and laughter of strangers surrounding her.

Another wave of panic threatened to wash her away, but she swallowed hard and squinted her eyes as she pressed on, yelling apologies and excuses all the while. She almost tripped again when she broke free, having reached the opening where floats still made their way through the streets.

Lee could no longer see the Chief, so the only way to determine her route was to follow the alley in which she believed him to have escaped. She had to avoid Blackie and Blondie at all costs, knowing that they would try to stop her from pursuing her boss.

After waiting for the current float to pass, she sprinted across the road in front of the next one, ignoring the protests from angry bystanders and performers as she interrupted them. She couldn't use her police badge as a way out, feeling that she had to have a valid reason for that, and her gut feeling did not count as a valid reason.

Before diving into the other side of people, she took a deep breath as though she were planning on literally diving into water, gasping for air whenever she managed to find an opening in the crowd.

Standing on her toes, she managed to spot Blackie towering above the masses, though she couldn't find Blondie. You hoped it was because he happened to be much shorter than his friend, making him invisible to her.

Lee didn't want the Chief to get away, so she quickly continued her journey to the other side of the street, colliding with more people as she went on. The reactions she received ranged from apologetic to irritated, but she ignored all of them as she kept going on.

Finally, she experienced that stumble again as she freed herself from the prison of bodies, relief washing over her when she realised that she had succeeded in reaching her destiny. She didn't give herself enough time to properly celebrate, instead looking around immediately to pinpoint her current position. It seemed that she had pushed her way through with a slight deviation, having ended a few metres to the right of the alley.

The sight in front of her, however, made her take a step back towards her personal hell.

Blondie stood in front of the alley, an eyebrow quirked as he stared right at her in a silent challenge.

Without taking her eyes off him, Lee evaluated her situation. Behind her, there was the crowd. To her left and right were more stalls and stray people having a look at the wares, or just keeping their distance. There was another alley just two stalls further, and she tried to judge the chances of her winning in a head-on confrontation.

Negative - she did not want to use her gun so close to citizens. She was here to maintain order, not to create chaos. And her hand-to-hand skills weren't exactly fit to use against someone who looked as capable as Blondie did.

Could she make it to the other alley, then? It could be possible. Blondie didn't know yet which course of action she was planning on taking, giving her at least a few seconds of reaction time in advance. By now, she had also already formulated the fastest path towards the alley, giving her another advantage.

Giving up wasn't an option for her, and so she dashed off to the right, but not before noting the surprised look on Blondie's previously smug face.

Astonished cries filled the air as she moved past people as fast as she could, sometimes pushing them out of the way if need be, hoping to create obstacles for Blondie as she did so.

She rounded the corner around a stall, gripping the edge of the table in order to not slip and lose her course. A look over her shoulder showed that Blondie still struggled with one of the bystanders who planned on making his pursuit difficult for him. She wasn't sure if he was doing so for answers as to what was going on, or if the stranger was on her side, but she was thankful nonetheless.

Before she knew it, Lee had entered the alley, the darkness engulfing her as the noise from the crowd behind her faded away as though she had just stepped through a barrier to another world. It wouldn't have surprised her if this had been some kind of trap and she actually _was _in a different world.

Without waiting for Blondie to catch up with her, she sprinted down the alley, not caring for stealth. If her theory was true and the Chief and Atlas were one and the same, she doubted she could remain undetected anyhow, so catching up with him in the first place had priority at the moment.

Her hand found her gun before she peeked around the corner, just in case. She pulled it free and released the safety as she checked the other side, and she wasn't sure whether she should be relieved or disappointed that the path was deserted.

However, she wouldn't give up that easily, and entered one of the three new paths that opened up on the other side of the wall. She kept her eyes and ears open as she stepped down the dark road so that she was prepared for whatever might come.

A scream filled the air farther ahead of her, goose bumps appearing all over her body as the pain of it penetrated her. Fuck being prepared, she was going to rush in now.

And so Lee began to run again, also realising that somebody - probably Blondie - was following her. Luckily the roads split up at various points, leaving her with enough opportunities to disappear from her stalker's sight while at the same time continuing onward.

By now, others sounds could be heard. Something, or someone, was thrashing around and squealing and she also caught what sounded like heavy breathing. That shiver ran down her body again and she wondered whether her body had been traumatised to such an extent that she could feel Atlas's presence whenever he was in the vicinity.

But if the Chief had ran in this direction and now she was sensing Atlas, then what could that possibly mean?

Turning one more corner, she halted, a shocked breath escaping her throat as she laid eyes upon the sight before her.


	12. For the Fire

**[A/N] Jeralee: **muaahahahaha! Gotta love cliffhangers when you're the writer of them. Hopefully this will make up for both the cliffhanger and the Dante-absense... As will the next chapter ;D /teasetease And thank you for your kind praises ^^

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Turning one more corner, Lee halted, a shocked breath escaping her throat as she laid eyes upon the sight before her.

Atlas's disgusting body was hovering over a young woman. She couldn't tell whether the woman was conscious or not, or even still alive, though that didn't make the frightful stare that she seemed to be directing towards the detective any better.

"You motherfucker..." Lee growled, and without waiting a moment longer, she raised her gun and shot at the monster, anger flowing through her.

The beast yowled in pain and turned to look at her, not having sensed her approach any earlier. The corners of its mouth turned down in a grimace and she bet that if it could, it would have frowned.

"It's you...!" it yelled and tried to change its angle to face her. Unfortunately for Atlas, its body happened to be a bit too big for this narrow alley, unable to turn around.

Lee noticed the blood dripping down its chin and scanned the unmoving body beneath it for any signs of bite marks. A pair of arms from behind her interrupted her as they wrapped themselves around her shoulders, a foreign smell infiltrating her nose as, from the corner of her eye, she noticed blond hair.

Cursing softly, she struggled to free herself, only for Blondie to tighten his hold on her, forcing her to stay still and, unfortunately for him, giving her the opportunity to calm down and rethink the situation. Realising that her hand with her gun had free range, the corners of her mouth twitched upwards and she wondered whether Blackie was both the brawl _and_ the brains of their team.

While Blondie was still none the wiser of her plan, Lee aimed her weapon slightly behind her and pulled the trigger. She winced as the recoil seemed worse than usual because her arm refused to move with the flow, with Blondie hugging her from behind.

The man yelled out in pain and released her as a bullet buried itself into his foot.

Lee ran off in the direction of one of the other paths that began in this alley, but not without throwing in a few more gunshots aimed towards Atlas, who had almost managed to turn around by now. Her finger kept pulling back the trigger until it gave a click, after which she flew into an opening.

More yelling and screaming came from behind her, but she didn't actively listen to it as she quickly reloaded her gun with some new ammo. She took in her surroundings as she did so, noting this road was just as narrow, if not more so, than the previous one. That would aid her in this stupid battle she had begun with the demon, knowing fully well she would never win like this. Especially not with Blondie thrown into the mix.

She rounded the corner at the end and took a few steps until another gap opened up, leading back into the direction from which she had just come from, the pathway that had been closest to Atlas. There, she stood and listened for a while, trying to gather what the others were up to.

That wasn't such a difficult task, with both of them shouting loudly at each other. Was Blondie a demon, too? Like Atlas? Why else would they have what seemed like such a comradery? That meant that Blackie, too, was one. If he were to join this fight, then it was sure to be a quick death for her.

Still, she wasn't planning on going down easily.

Atlas tried to quiet down, but it was impossible not to hear the sound of his sides scraping against the walls as it made its way towards her. Blondie, on the other hand, had the advantage here, and Lee knew that he wouldn't make the same mistake twice.

Raising her gun in the direction of the scraping, she pulled the trigger two more times. Without waiting to listen if she had hit her mark, she jumped up and jogged back to one of the other paths to try and discern Blondie's position. She was in luck, or so it seemed, and she heard soft muttering and cursing coming from this alley, and so she chose the third and final pathway to sneak back to where she had first seen Atlas, thankful for the lack of snow.

Once there, she kneeled down next to the unfamiliar woman, whose eyes were now closed. Two fingers pressed against her neck proved that she was still alive, and Lee also had the chance to check over the body for any wounds. A small puddle of blood lay under the stranger and quickly Lee found that the woman had lost half her arm.

Her stomach churned at the idea of it having been _eaten_ by Atlas, but what else was there to think? It was then that she also realised that having come back hadn't been such a good idea. She should have led the two of them away from this girl.

Sudden movement behind her proved that she was already too late, and before she knew it, pain erupted in her side and it was only then that she realised a gun had been shot behind her.

Pressing a hand against her side, Lee watched the blood flow from between her fingers and wondered whether the bullet was stuck in her, or had just barely grazed her; she couldn't think properly at the moment. Then she turned around to glare at the perpetrator, finding Blackie had caught up with his friends.

She growled and clenched her teeth together when she heard more commotion up ahead. It wouldn't take long until Atlas and Blondie made their way back to her.

So she grabbed her gun and fired behind her just as she got to her feet. When she was standing again, she pulled the trigger again, and once more before she disappeared into the alley which she had already established to be empty.

None of her bullets had hit the man, but at least it had given her the opening she needed to get away from there. She felt horrible for leaving the woman behind, but she thought that she was the only one who knew the truth about Atlas. If she was to die, only more people would die. And anyway, maybe they would be too busy catching her to feast upon the girl's body.

This time, Lee didn't allow herself the time for stealth. They knew which way she had gone, and the blood trail she was leaving behind would give her away anyway, so she opted for speed instead.

That didn't go too well, though, and at the end of the way she had to lean against a wall to regain her breath, her head swimming from the sudden blood loss. She pinched herself to stay focussed and pushed herself on, entering the final alley that would lead out of this maze, judging by the dim light she could see at the end.

Her feet were accompanied by the shaking of the floor as Atlas, who seemed to have recovered from most of its wounds, pursued her, Blackie and Blondie probably not far behind.

Once more in the open, she was surprised to see that the street was completely deserted, all the attention in the main street. She had only gotten farther away from the busy streets by using the alleys, after all.

Instead of making for the other side of the road to create some distance between herself and Atlas, she chose to hide behind the corner instead. The other side of the street was filled with buildings, there were no gaps through which she could escape, and the only other ways to get away were to just run through the streets. That didn't seem like such a great idea with a huge demon following her.

It didn't take long for the tremors in the floor to reach her position. Lee closed her eyes, saying some last words and all that crap as she believed that this might well be her final moment alive.

She held her gun so that she was aiming at the entrance of the darkness, her finger on the trigger and ready to pull at the first sight of Atlas's horrible head.

One of its paws became visible and landed just before her, a jolt running through her body as it slammed onto the ground. She couldn't hear anything else and guessed that Blackie and Blondie had been given the order to back down and leave her to Atlas itself.

Its head finally left the dark alley. First its nose, then its grinning mouth with its deadly teeth. Just before she could see the cloth over its eyes, and so just before it could see her, she fired her gun at it in fast succession, emptying it in one go.

Atlas yelled again and thrashed around, its tail hitting the sides of the wall in its throes of pain. It shook its head about and Lee jumped back just in time to dodge a paw it swatted in her direction. She had learned from her previous encounter, but mainly she had just blinded his eye with a bullet.

Using that to her advantage, she once more created a distance between the two of them while she reloaded her gun at the same time. She was running out of ammo and hadn't inflicted any lethal damage - she was going to have to make every shot count from now on.

But then again, how was she supposed to do that when she did not even know its weak points? It looked as though it didn't _have_ any in the first place, and she didn't have enough bullets to experiment.

"Will you stop shooting at me!" Atlas barked at her and freed itself from the narrow path it had almost gotten stuck in.

The sight of its tail gave her hope. Trails of its own blood were joining in with what she now presumed to be poison, dripping to the floor as one. So it wasn't invulnerable after all.

"Only when you stop killing innocent people and eating them," she replied, frustrated at the predicament she had gotten herself in once more.

By now, she was standing at the other side of the road, having decided to go down that route anyway. She didn't want any people straying from the parade to have to meet Atlas, which would most likely end in their deaths, and so she didn't really have any other options. All her hope rested on her final clip of ammo.

"You know, you're very stubborn for a human," Atlas commented and tilted its head to the side. Its covered eyes held her back from reading its emotions, leaving her hanging in the dark a little about how it meant its statement.

"Really? I always thought that stubbornness was some kind of normal human trait that everyone has," she replied anyway.

Atlas shook its head from side to side. It didn't look like a 'no' and so she interpreted it as a shrug as it continued, "Maybe. But a normal human trait is also that they die when you want them to. You, you keep escaping..."

Lee scoffed at that. "You say that as though we have had many more encounters than just these two."

"Well, if you're used to your prey dying before encountering you even once, meeting someone for the second time is a rather special occasion," it shot back, growing slightly frustrated at the thought of having to meet this woman a third time.

"Whatever," said woman then answered, deciding that this confrontation had been going on for too long.

She raised her gun one final time, and Atlas even had the nerve to tilt its head to the side again, almost waiting for her to do her thing. It wouldn't have been any worse had Atlas started laughing at her and broadened itself to make it easier to hit it.

In her fury, she first aimed for its other eye, effectively taking that out as well. Atlas yelled, but otherwise remained still. This was obviously a challenge, and she knew she was going to lose it.

Another gunshot rang out. A bullet buried itself in its chest, which was quickly followed by one more exactly next to it.

And so Lee carried on, frustrated by the lack of defeat Atlas showed her. Sweat dripped down her temple at the combination of tiredness, pain and ire burning inside of her. Where was the justice in this? Weren't the good guys supposed to prevail? Then why was she obviously on the losing side right now?

"Are you done yet?" Atlas chuckled when her weapon stopped firing shots, the last round having been fired.

It didn't wait for an answer from her, instead going in straight for the kill. The blood loss made her brain function slower than it should, and in an almost sluggish manner she looked left and right, trying to find a way to get out. Trying to escape wouldn't work, her feet refusing to move in fear of collapsing if she did so.

So she did all her mind could conjure in that moment. She bent down and then straightened her back again, revealing a knife she always kept in her boot. With knife she meant a switchblade, and as she unfolded it and held it out in front of her in a defensive manner, she was thankful for the fact that Atlas couldn't see the uncertain doom to which it was rushing.

When it got close enough, she would stick her hand into its mouth and try to stab it somewhere inside.

That had been her original plan, at least.

But suddenly, red blocked Lee's vision, and she took that cursed step backwards in surprise. Her knee buckled and she crashed to the ground, shaking all over now that her concentration had been broken.

"You really are more trouble than you're worth, do you know that?" the voice which she had come to loathe yet long for in such a short period of time spoke.

Her heart clenched painfully at his words, and she wasn't sure if she was happy because he had gone through all that trouble to save her again, or if she was devastated at how he seemed to consider her unworthy of his energy. Maybe she should just be grateful that she was once more going to be saved, but she really couldn't stop despising herself because she kept needed to be saved.

"Then why don't you just leave me be?" she whispered, not expecting Dante to hear her words.

He did hear them, though he didn't react as Atlas clashed against his sword. The demon began to curse at the devil hunter for arriving so suddenly and taking its meal from it, again.

"Stop meddling with my affairs, you bastard!" Atlas spat and jumped back a few paces, brandishing its wounded tail as it did so.

"Yeah, you'd like that, wouldn't you? I'm a man, I understand the need to eat in peace, but maybe you should search something more of your own size," Dante retorted before holding his hand before his mouth in a fake gasp. "Oh, don't tell me, all of those are far too powerful for you to fight?"

Atlas chuckled at Dante's taunts and shook its head, but didn't reply.

When it didn't move, instead waiting for Dante to make the next move, the half-demon sighed and replaced his sword on his back before pulling out two guns from their holsters in a far too showy fashion.

"Have it your way," he said and began to shoot at the demon without giving it a chance to react.

Atlas grunted and tried to get out of the way, but wherever it went, Dante repositioned himself and the bullets followed it.

When it seemed that it had had enough, it lifted its head and opened its mouth in what looked like a silent cry. No sound came and Dante looked around in confusion, wondering what the meaning of Atlas's move had been.

That became obvious quite soon when he shifted his two guns from aiming only at Atlas, to aiming at both Atlas and a movement somewhere to his side.

Lee saw Blondie appear, the wound in his foot already gone, which was why the man now managed to dodge all the shots with ease. And after all, Dante had to concentrate on two moving targets at the same time while making sure nothing happened to her, still sitting on the ground behind him.

"Do you... do you have any ammo on you that I can use?" she mumbled once she started feeling guilty for causing such trouble for the man trying to protect her.

"Check my pocket," was all he said as he turned his body slightly so that one of his pockets was turned to her.

Having lost too much blood to blush, Lee reached in and pulled out whatever she could find, letting out a sigh of relief when she realised that, somehow, it was exactly what she needed.

"Why..." she wanted to ask, but Dante shushed her before she could finish her question.

She shrugged and reloaded her gun. Then she looked up and wondered which enemy she should target, with Blondie being too fast for Dante's rain of bullets but Atlas seeming too menacing to just let him be. As though sensing her dilemma, Dante now turned to the other side, indicating for her to reach into that pocket as well.

"What...?" she began, but she stopped herself when she felt her hand touch the familiar and cool metal of a gun.

With a frown she pulled out a brand new weapon from his pocket, and without wondering why or how Dante could run around town while being so packed, she checked the ammo and was happy to find it full.

"You do know how to dual wield, right?" Dante asked, his frown visible in his voice.

At that, Lee let out a laugh as she lifted both guns at the same time, trying to get the feel of the new arrival while ignoring the tremble of her arms. "Who do you think I am?"

And with that, as though some silent pact had been made between the two of them, Dante shifted his aim from Blondie back to Atlas. At the exact same time, she began to fire both weapons at Blondie, who had a harder time dodging two sprays of bullets and was forced to keep his distance after all.

Atlas noticed the added disadvantage they had gotten by the adding of two guns and it let out a yowl, calling the retreat. Blondie disappeared with a few bounds, while Atlas ran down the street to find itself a place to regenerate and turn into human shape.

"Next time will be the last!" it yelled before vanishing around a corner.

"I sure hope so! I couldn't stand to see your ugly face any more!" Dante called after it, but the lack of response indicated that Atlas could no longer hear them. Or chose to ignore the insult.

A sigh from Lee as she dropped the guns to the ground to lean forward reminded him of her presence, and soon he kneeled down next to her.

"You're wounded," he stated, which got him a sore look from his friend.

"Thank you for informing me of this, Captain Obvious. I had not yet noticed it," she shot back at him as she pressed a hand against her side with a wince. She had managed to ignore it with the threat of the demon hovering above her, but now that Atlas was gone, the weight of it all came crashing down on her.

"Excuse me, I was a little busy trying to keep you alive," he offered with an apologetic smile. "Plus, you managed to handle yourself so well, I hadn't thought to check up on you."

She shook her head, dismissing the subject. "Not important right now. We need to get back to..."

Dante interrupted her by holding up a hand before he handed her her guns and picked her up with ease.

"Wha-!" she began to exclaim, but the half-demon cut her off once more.

"James is on it, don't worry. I'm taking you back to my place, it's closer than your house. Just try to keep pressure on it while we're on our way," he then helpfully informed her before trotting off, not waiting to listen to her protests.


	13. Past Futures

**[A/N]: **sorry for the absence last week! Uni had started again and I had to adjust to getting up before 12 o'clock, hahaha... And next to that, Sims 4 came out last week and I started watching the anime of Blue Exorcist, so I was kinda juggling with everything and failed to update, sorry~!

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Lee kept pressing her hands against her wound. She had been lucky, for the bleeding seemed to have stopped for the most part and she had been even luckier that she had only been grazed by the bullet. Her eyes were directed up at the grey sky, for once unaware of her surroundings as Dante carried on.

That was the effect his mere presence could have on her; she felt safe enough to let her guard down now that she was in his arms. After all, she probably knew better than anyone out there what this man was capable of, and she trusted him capable enough to keep an eye on the situation around her for a while. Though if anyone were to ask, she would just blame it on the sudden blood loss.

Somewhere along the way, the clouds high above let loose a torrent of snow, no longer even bothering with the usual gradual build-up and instead just dumping all of it had in one go. Lee's head hung over the edge of Dante's arm, causing her to see everything upside down, cold flakes attacking her eyes every now and then.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked all of a sudden, her voice raspy from disuse but she didn't feel like clearing her throat.

Dante spared her a quick glance before looking in front of him again, needing his concentration to not slip on the fresh layer of snow that covered the ground and continued to grow as he went on. "The noises that demon made because of you were pretty hard to ignore if one wasn't busy attending that nonsense in the main street. Though I've got to say, you did a pretty good job."

"Don't tell me that you of all people hate Christmas, too?" she inquired in surprise. She had planned on ignoring his last comment, still being angry with herself that she hadn't been able to handle _all_ of it on her own, but she couldn't help herself. "Is it even possible to take care of those things without being at least a half demon?"

He nodded, his white hair moving in front of his eyes as he did so, making his face almost unreadable. "Of course it is. I even have a friend who can take care of herself and who is probably a hundred percent human. I think."

Then he shrugged and lifted Lee's upper body a little, her face becoming squashed against his shoulder as he scratched his cheek before adding, "And well, with my job, or whatever you wanna call it, Christmas is rarely the happy family time that it's made out to be. Why does that surprise you?"

"J-just…" She quickly looked back at the sky when he tilted his head so that he could see her again. "I thought you were the type to enjoy Christmas. Go out, have fun with friends, that kind of thing?"

The half-demon let out a bark of laughter at that, the image too strange for him to comprehend. "I doubt you can call what I usually do 'having fun with friends'."

Lee scowled at him, disgust filling her as she saw him sitting in a dirty strip club, half-naked - if not completely naked - women dancing in manners that men for some reason found attractive.

Dante laughed at the face she made and she could feel the deep rumble in his chest as he held her close. The sudden movement pinned her attention to the area and she could feel his heart beating against her arm, her mind only now realising the closeness the two of them were sharing.

Silence hung in the air and Lee was left with her thoughts once more. Why, _why_ could she accept and tolerate this touch, even though he was probably the most dangerous person she knew? He could fight Atlas without breaking a sweat, could jump insanely high and she was sure he could move much faster than any normal human. Only now was she beginning to understand the extent of his demon side and she knew that if he wanted, he could snap her body in half with the flick of a finger.

And still she continued to be pulled in by him, the least logical person she was supposed to be attracted to.

No longer wanting to continue this train of thought, her mouth blurted out, "Let's spend this Christmas together, then."

"Huh?" was the intelligent sound Dante made as he looked down at her, visibly surprised. "Did you just say what I think you said?"

"I didn't say anything. You're starting to hear things."

His lips turned into a smirk. "Don't worry, your secret's safe with me."

"W-what secret?" Lee stammered in surprise.

"That you have _feelings_," he responded and he wiggled with his eyebrows, which made her burst into laughter.

Dante looked taken aback at her outburst, which only added to her mirth. Once she had started she could no longer stop herself. She kept on laughing until she was gasping for air and clutching her sides, begging to stop because the pain it caused in her wound almost made her cry.

Now it was Dante's turn to laugh and Lee glowered at him just as he began to walk up the steps to his shop. Completely forgetting the predicament she had found herself in a few seconds ago, she was surprised by how sudden their arrival at his shop was. Only then did she begin to ask herself why he hadn't just dropped her off at the hospital again.

A groan left her throat as the two of them entered the main room when she remembered the horrible interior.

"Hey, at least it looks _natural_," Dante retorted as he dropped her on his couch, where she tried to make herself as small as possible so as to minimise the surface of contact between her and the material. "And there's nothing wrong with my sofa!"

Lee ignored him and continued to lay in a scrunched up ball, making a point of ignoring the pain coming from her side. Punishment for being such a weak bastard, that's how she regarded it and so she wasn't planning on relieving her body any time soon.

Dante, however, had other plans as his hands took hold of her head and her knees, and he pushed her down so that she was lying flat on her back. When she tried to reposition herself, he sent her a playful glare and disappeared from her view. She could hear him rummage through things from behind the sofa while she stared at the ceiling, following the cracks between the wooden planks with her eyes as she waited for him to return.

"Take off your shirt. Or roll it up, or whatever," came the command from the other side of the room and she did as he asked of her.

Lifting her upper body from the couch with one arm, she pulled her coat off with the other and shoved it onto the ground before dumping her shirt with it, leaving her in only her bra. The cool air pricked against her skin, and most notably against the gash in her side, causing her to suck in a gasp of breath.

It didn't take much longer before Dante was kneeling down next to the settee, a first aid kit on the ground beside him, from which he pulled several things he'd be needing. Lee saw he had also grabbed a bottle of alcohol, and she let out another groan, already feeling it burn against her wound.

"You're the one always getting in trouble. You should expect these kinds of things when you go out there to fight in the name of justice," Dante shot at her, raising an eyebrow at her childish reaction as he began to clean her wound with care, moving slowly.

"Oh, don't worry, this isn't the first time I've been shot. I've still got a few new bullets inside of me, too. But normally I fight against... well, humans. I think." She let out a sigh as she inspected her hands, clenching and unclenching them several times. "Can I learn? To kill demons, I mean?"

"The guns I use are... well, special, so they work better than normal guns. I could make yours..." He trailed off, shook his head and added, "And the friend I mentioned, Lady, she uses a rocket launcher with a bayonet. Real powerful shit. Fired it at me once, too."

"You can make my guns what?" she asked him, ignoring what he had said after that. Why was he being vague all of a sudden? His attempt to distract her with humour, the uneasiness that had crept in his way of moving, the way he didn't look her in the eye as he unscrewed the bottle of alcohol... Something was wrong.

"Never mind," Dante replied in a sour tone just as he dabbed a piece of cotton he had drenched in alcohol around her wound.

In a combination of surprise and pain, Lee let out a yell. Throwing her head back and clenching her teeth together, her hand shot out and found purchase on his leg. She squeezed the muscles there to the point of her digits hurting, too, but at least it was something she could concentrate on.

When he was almost finished with his dabbing, she slapped his hand away, setting the cotton ball he had been holding soaring through the air. He gave her a look of surprise, which only became even more surprised as she rocked herself back a little before launching her leg at him. He managed to throw his arms up just in time to catch it, but it seemed he hadn't expected much power from her weakened state and so she pushed him over. She followed her leg and pushed herself off the couch and onto Dante, which resulted in him lying on his back on the floor and her sitting on top of him, straddling his torso and ignoring the pain in her side.

Dante looked up at her with a frown, his blue eyes showing her his annoyance. "You do know I could have snapped your leg if I hadn't been careful?"

With her mind having been cleared from all the adrenaline and whatnot from the fight, that was all Lee had needed and the pieces of the puzzle fell into place. It also meant that she was going to have to admit a failure on her part.

"...I was wrong about you," she stated and watched as the anger in his eyes melted away and was replaced by confusion.

"How so?" he murmured, proving a sudden change in his behaviour towards her. Even she herself could think of a dozen dirty jokes to answer her statement with the position the two of them were in.

She hadn't pushed him over because he hadn't expected the force she could put behind her kick. He had just held himself back so immensely that he hadn't been able to provide any resistance against her moves.

His hands, that had settled themselves on her legs, shook her a little to encourage her to elaborate.

Examining his reactions, Lee obliged, "At first I had thought that you were quite comfortable with yourself, to which conclusion I had come when you casually confessed that you weren't completely human..."

His expression went from confused to unreadable within seconds of her utterance. Trying to hide himself from her, she guessed. It pained her to see him like this. Surprised, even, to witness a moment of his so vulnerable as this... Or surprised about her own reactions to his?

She leaned forward a little before continuing, "But now I see it. You're not comfortable with what you are at all... On the contrary, you _hate_ yourself. You're afraid of your own capabilities, afraid that you've just been lucky until now and that someday, something might happen and you could hurt, maybe even kill one of your loved ones. You want to be a normal human being, like the rest of us boring humans. Yet at the same time, you enjoy fighting and can't seem to get enough of it."

Dante had watched her throughout her analysis, not opening his mouth to interrupt her once. She still couldn't judge what his thoughts might be and so she wasn't sure whether she was actually right. Surprised, she noted that she had _never_ doubted herself when it came to deducing before.

"You confu-"

She had wanted to confess her feelings to him, but Dante felt that now she had spoken too much.

His hand had found its way to the back of her head before she had realised what was going on, and so he crashed her lips against his own while her mind was still stuck halfway her sentence. Her mouth was, too, and the devil hunter took the opportunity to slip his tongue past her defences.

For the first time in her life, her mind went blank as her body took control of the situation, all the while ignoring the stinging of her wound.

And so she kissed him back.

Surprised by her silent token of acceptance, Dante leaned up a little, his arms moving behind him to prop himself on his elbows. Lee ran her hands through his hair as he did so and, despite not knowing what she was supposed to do, pressed her chest against his for more contact.

He growled lowly, one of his arms encircling her waist with care to pull her even closer. All the while, his tongue kept dancing with hers. Occasionally, he nipped at her, teeth grazing her lips.

When all of a sudden, in the heat of the moment, a soft moan left her throat, she froze on the spot. The sound of it managed to penetrate the walls her body had put up around her self, keeping her from the control panels of her own limbs. Her eyes snapped open to stare at the man lying beneath her, who had noticed the change in behaviour and had pulled back to watch her, to investigate the feelings she held inside.

It had seemed that he had put up a wall of his own as well, holding her back and stopping her from reading him. The feeling of having been locked out saddened her for some reason. She frowned in frustration and let out a sigh as she ran a finger down his chest, absentminded.

"Why do you do this?" she murmured, her eyes not leaving her wandering digit.

"Do what?" Dante inquired in an equally soft tone.

Realising that the moment was over for good, he lifted her back onto her previous spot on the couch before resuming his taking care of her. With the wound having been disinfected, all he had to do was cover it. As if she hadn't seen enough dressings lately.

As he did so, she made a vague gesture with her hands, trying to refer to the two of them with a single movement. "This. Everything."

The man before her let out a chuckle, but she could tell that it was a defensive manoeuvre to buy him some more time while he tried to find a way to talk himself out of this.

"You're going to have to be a bit more specific than that, sweetheart." Or maybe he just really didn't know what she meant.

Lee let the term of endearment pass by her, knowing that by now, he only used them to taunt her. If she didn't react to them for long enough, maybe he would drop them all by himself. Instead, she tried to think of a way to explain what she meant with 'everything'.

After a few moments of silence, she let out an angered growl; annoyed with herself for not being able to sum her thoughts up in a simple sentence. "You're... you're so confusing. You taunt me, do things like... like kiss me all of a sudden, though you probably don't mean anything by it. And it's _working_, somehow. I..."

She trailed off, not even wanting to go down the path of confessing these new and disturbing feelings inside of her. Dante let her talk, didn't even ask for her to elaborate. He sat by her side, taking his sweet time in patching her up as he waited for her to continue.

"You even managed to put me on a false path, too. Making me, no, making us all believe that you have no trouble in the world. That you're confident in everything about you, that others can shove their opinions up their asses... But you're not."

Now, the white-haired man opened his mouth to protest, but she pressed a finger to his lips. "Don't lie to me. You can no longer lie to me, understood? But... why? What is it that you fear? Yourself? Us pathetic humans? And even then... why me? Why do you constantly follow me around, of all the people you could choose from?"

A smile appeared on Dante's face just as he finished his job. She noticed it in the split second before he turned away from her and sat on the ground before her, back facing her.

"You're asking me all these questions, but can't I say the exact same to you? You hate Christmas and I presume it's because you're lonely. I don't just follow you around, you _enjoy_ it as well. Yet with an attitude like that, one would think you hate people more than anything. But here you are, getting all cosy with some weird geezer you've met but a few weeks ago, who's as much of an outcast as you are."

Lee's mouth fell open at his analysis and she wasn't sure whether she was supposed to feel violated or surprised at the amount of information he had managed to gather by watching her. He shot her a look over his shoulder, reached out with his arm and closed her mouth for her before grinning.

"I can do a bit of 'detectiveing', too, if I want to. And even though you act all cool and sexy and confident, the fact that you're thinking that you're not good enough for my attention proves the opposite. Do you really want to know why I 'chose' you?"

As he spoke, he turned the rest of his body around as well. He crawled closer to her and planted his hands next to her sides on the sofa. Then, she watched him continue moving towards her and she went along with him until her back was pressed against a dirty cushion and his nose almost touched hers.

"Because you're different, just like me. You didn't scream and run when I told you of my... ancestry, you didn't break down at the sight of the Atlas. No, you actually decided to _fight_ it, which, in my opinion, is totally insane, but nobody's perfect. You think you're so cold and distant from the rest of us, but deep down you're yearning for someone to come and sweep you off your feet..."

Somewhere along the line, Lee started to wonder why her questioning him had turned into him analysing her mind, summarising her life in a few simple words. The feelings that had been new and disturbing moments ago had received their proper names, and she realised what she had to do.

"You're right. All this began as just something that wasn't really all that important to me, just helping people in need as always..."

She had to stop this, whatever _this_ was, before it got out of control. It wasn't love yet, but love always ended in heartbreak. Her parents rejecting the love she had offered them had broken her heart. The death of her grandfather, the only person who had accepted her love, had broken her heart. This man would surely break her heart as well.

"But now-"

"BOSS!"

The door to Devil May Cry flew open, and in crashed James, breathing heavily. He had probably ran all the way through the city to find this place from the hospital, or wherever he had gone with Atlas's survived victim.

The poor boy stopped in his tracks when he saw the scene before him: Lee, half-naked, pressed against the back of the couch while Dante almost sat on top of her, though still fully clothed. He reacted accordingly, his face turning bright red as he faced the other way and held a hand over his eyes.

"S-s-s-sorry for interrupting!" he squeaked.

Avoiding eye contact with the devil hunter, Lee pushed him off herself and quickly fetched her shirt again.

"Sorry for that, James. Dante was just helping me with my wound," she replied as she pulled her clothes back on.

"Wound? You were hurt?" James asked and came closer to make sure she was doing okay.

"It's fine. Got grazed by a bullet." To prove her point, she lifted her shirt just enough for him to see the small patch covering her side.

"Ah, okay," was all that James said to that.

A silence filled the air afterwards, with James exchanging looks between Lee and Dante, back at her, back at Dante... Until she let out a sigh and grabbed her coat and her gun that had been placed on his desk.

"Take the other one too," Dante spoke up as he pointed towards the one he had offered her in the previous fight.

Lee stared at him for a few moments before shrugging and grabbing the other one too. "All right, let's go then."

Dante saw the dent the doorknob had put into the wall from James's throw once she closed it behind the two of them. He sighed and ran a hand over his face, letting himself sink onto the couch, cursing at himself all the while.


	14. My Sunset

**[A/N] Jeralee: **damn, that you check the site to read my story really honours me! I hope I can keep up the good work and that you'll continue to enjoy the story. I'm glad that you thought the last chapter was well-developed, I'm always worried about whether I'm going to fast or whether the things that are happening seem illogical or something. Don't worry about Christmas, I'll have something for that! ;D Though I think I should hurry up because it looks like I've made up a new starting point for winter, since it's been winter from the beginning of this story and we still haven't gotten to the 24th of December. ...whoops!

* * *

That night was spent with just as little sleep as usual. Lee ran her mind over the conversation she had with James on her way home, how he had told her that she had probably saved that girl's life and that she was doing fine, or at least as fine as she could be doing after having had her arm... well, eaten. James had told Lee that, once awake, she had gone into shock, but he had managed to calm her down. Apparently she had asked him to stay with her for a while, which is why it had taken him so long to get to Dante's place.

James had told the detective that the girl's name was Zoe. Somehow she had felt touched by the fact that she finally had gotten the name of one of Atlas's victims. She had vowed that this was only the first, and that she wouldn't let another unnamed one pass her by.

Her partner had then proceeded to talk about everything and nothing. It was rather obvious that he did not want to touch the subject of what she and Dante had been doing before he interrupted the two of them. And even then, the thought of that stupid, white-haired, arrogant, confusing... bastard kept invading her mind, her attention drifting elsewhere multiple times during her conversation.

Lee's attention _never_ drifted elsewhere when she was talking about a case. What had happened to her?

And so here she lay, pressing her hands against her head in a feeble attempt to rid her mind of the images that barged in without knocking first. In between her fits of despair came even worse thoughts, thoughts of what the Chief was going to do or say to her the next morning.

After all, she had disobeyed a direct order, and probably even in his very own presence. But even now, there was no way for her to prove her claims. She had seen the Chief disappear into an alley during the busy Christmas fair, only to meet a demon? She could already hear her colleagues laughing, believing her to be delirious.

With every passing minute, her worry grew until all she could see was Dante's face and a mix of those of her Chief and Atlas, whether she closed her eyes or opened them. This had to stop!

She would cut all ties with the half-demon. It was for the best, or so she believed. She wasn't cut out to have a relationship, and though Dante might not think so himself, he deserved something better than her.

And Atlas - or Chief - would never go away, even with evidence. Nobody was going to believe her. She was going to have to take matters into own hands and kill him, or it, with her own hands.

Thus came the end of the night, and though she had planned every single step she was to take in the next few weeks, she hadn't gotten any sleep in return.

* * *

"You what?"

"You _what_?"

Lee stared at the Chief for a while, who was sitting at his desk and staring at her in disbelief. Then she slowly turned her gaze towards James, who stood beside her and was gaping at her as well, before she repeated herself.

"I quit. It's easy really, if you listen for once."

A hurt look crossed her partner's - or should she say ex-partner? - face while the Chief turned red in anger.

She was standing in his office because he had called Lee to meet him. She knew exactly what he had planned on doing; he had probably wanted to yell at her that she had gone against his own words, punish her, fire her, something like that... But she had decided to take matters into her own hands.

This wasn't just simply about the case. It wasn't even 'just' her case any longer. It was a case that nobody should be supposed to handle and she knew that she was the only one around who could see it to the end in a proper manner, in a way that she could be sure that justice had been served. Atlas's henchmen be damned.

The fact that James shook his head and strode out of the room without sparing her a glance didn't matter to her, at least not in that moment. Indirectly, she was doing it for him, too. He was a good boy, still had a real chance at a proper life in this world. She wouldn't want to see it all come to an end because of her incompetence.

Chief ground his teeth together as he glared at her, hands clenched into tight fists and he held himself back from spitting whatever obscenities lay on the tip of his tongue. Not that they would ever reach Lee, even if he loosed them at her.

"Will that be all?" she inquired, taking on an almost polite tone as though she had just concluded a business meeting and wished to move on from the topic.

Her boss sucked in a deep breath and made a movement with his hand that was supposed to shoo her away. Gladly accepting the permission to leave - not that she would have let him stop her or anything - she turned and left without another word.

When she coincidentally bumped into Blondie and Blackie after exiting the room, she couldn't help but feel a little anxious to leave this building and prepare herself for her oncoming mission. Without a doubt, Chief-no, _Atlas_, would send them after her as soon as possible, knowing that whatever danger she had been to him before would only grow with the freedom of him not breathing down her neck as his boss. He had presumed that her loyalty to her job and partner would have been enough to keep her here, but apparently he had misjudged her.

When Lee passed the door to James's office on her way to the front door, she couldn't help but pause. For a split second, she wondered whether she was supposed to explain her motives to one of the two people she just might trust with her life. In the end, she had decided against it, believing it would only put the man in danger if Atlas were to try and use his connection with her against herself.

He was a big boy now and she had trained him well. She knew he would be able to go on without her, whether permanently or not. She only regretted having to part with him in such a rough manner; no goodbyes, no 'Why?', no 'I'm sorry'. He wouldn't understand it anyway, would probably call her insane and driven, would claim that she had to let go of this case. That she wasn't perfect and that it wasn't something to be embarrassed of to lose a case like this.

A sad smile graced her face and Lee couldn't help but feel tears prickling in her eyes as she continued her way outside. Of course she wasn't perfect, she knew that more than anybody else. Hated herself more than anybody else for it, too. It only showed how good she was at hiding it.

For this one time, she didn't bother with her rituals as she left the office for what seemed to be the last time and it almost felt like she could hear a page being turned over as the doors closed behind her. This wasn't just the end of a chapter, it was also the beginning of a new one. The start of a new day; her sunrise. But first, she would have to endure the sunset before.

* * *

It was dusty in the spare room Lee had upstairs, the one filled with memories that seemed to belong to some version of her some lifetimes ago. It was almost as though she had stepped through a portal into a time long gone, the dust being the only thing keeping her in the present.

She found an old mirror that had once belonged to her grandmother. Her grandfather had given it to her after her death, finding it had held too many of her memories for him to keep. Lee had only accepted it out of politeness, not wanting to go against the wishes of a man who had just lost the most important person in his life.

Despite never having put it somewhere in the other rooms, she had always found it beautiful, though a little creepy. Death had always been a concept that had confused her, and seeing that mirror always brought back the thoughts she had had a lot around the time of her grandmother's death.

It was old, much older than she herself was, but that only seemed to make it all the more enchanting. The frame of the mirror made it look like it belonged in the Victorian Age instead of the Twenty-First Century.

Wiping a hand over the surface of the mirror itself, Lee was surprised to catch a glimpse of her own eyes under all the dust. Since when had they started to look so old and uneasy?

She cleaned more dust away and found that her gaze jumped to and fro, investigating her own face as though she were looking at a stranger she hadn't met before. Or maybe reuniting with an old friend whom she hadn't seen in years? She looked tired, the bags under her eyes proof of her sleepless nights and the unusual thinness of her face reminding her of how long it had been since she had just sat down to have a proper meal.

Shaking her head, Lee quickly turned away from her own image, ashamed and shy all of a sudden under the scrutinising stare it was giving her.

Then she moved on to a carton box on the ground, kneeled in front of it and opened it with caution, coughing as more dust sprang up at the sudden movement. Once it had settled, she was surprised by the contents of the box, having forgotten all about them.

Her mission to find something that she had stored in this room and needed lost its importance all of a sudden as she reached into the box and picked up a photo album that lay inside. Sitting on the floor with her legs crossed, she opened it, more dust filling the air as she did so.

The first page was filled with photos of a newly-born Lee, lying in the arms of her parents. They laughed happily at the camera as they held her up as though she were their most prized possession. In that very moment, she probably was.

Blaming the dust, Lee wiped at her eyes as her mind replaced those happy faces with the disappointed ones when they realised that she wasn't the daughter that they had wanted. She hadn't wanted to go to university and study her life away only to end up doing the same, boring job for the rest of her life until the day she died, as they had wanted. Had called her a disgrace when she had refused to join them on family visits wherever her grandfather wasn't involved, had shaken their heads at her many rants about why she should not have a boyfriend at the age of sixteen. When the official diagnoses of her obsessive-compulsive disorder were made, they had looked at her as though she had been a failure, now knowing for sure that there was something wrong with her. When their stares and words had continued to haunt her even in her sleep, depression, suicidal thoughts and attempts, anxiety attacks, nihilism and the insomnia she still had today were some of the few... 'side-effects' that only seemed to prove their point.

A gasp left her throat when her body reminded her to breathe, and she closed the album with a loud smack, her skin turning grey from the dust that got kicked up. She dumped it back into its box and only spared a glance towards the teddy bears and other toys that had accompanied her during her childhood. The most important ones of them still slept by her side, after all.

The next box that Lee opened, feeling slightly afraid of what memories this one might hold, contained more books from her childhood. Books that taught one what sound cows made, books filled with fables about dogs befriending horses, books from school... Books she was embarrassed to have but that were too valuable to her to just throw away. Maybe to give to her children later, if she was ever to have any.

She scoffed at that, wondering if there was anybody out there who was crazy enough to want to stay with her long enough to build and maintain a family. Finishing that train of thought with a chuckle, she didn't bother to venture any further and closed that particular box to move onto the next object.

This spare room wasn't really much bigger, the mirror and two rather large boxes filling up most of the space. Next to an antique chair that had belonged to her grandfather and now stood in the corner of this room, there was one more piece of furniture in the room: a vanity.

She didn't know where it came from or to whom it had once belonged. It had come along with the house, had stood in the exact same position it was in right now. She hadn't ever felt the need to move it and had been too lazy to get rid of it, and so she now used it to store various old things in the drawers.

Scanning the first few drawers, it was in the very last one that she found what she had been looking for, what she could probably call her most important possession. The fact that she had never touched the shotgun since receiving it after her grandfather's death and instead kept it stored in this room was proof of that, no matter how weird it seemed. The many times she had gone hunting with the old man, sharing this weapon that still packed quite a punch, had just made it... unwanted to use it after the man she had shared those moments with was gone.

But right now, it was probably the only hope she had left, combined with her usual pistol and the one she had gotten from Dante.

Lee grabbed the gun and the holster that went along with it and carried it back downstairs, where she set about to cleaning it. It wasn't as old as it looked with all the dirt and dust, the tradition of her hunts with her grandfather having only been a recent one. It had been his way to show how proud he had been of how far his granddaughter had managed to come, from that little girl who used to wet her bed because of her nightmares to this strong woman who had taken it upon herself to make the world a better place, no matter how uncharacteristic it had seemed of her.

On her way home, she had purchased the ammo she would need for it, so once she was finished whipping it back into shape, she would be ready for whatever lay ahead of her. It would feel just like the good old days, as though her grandfather were watching her every step from over her shoulder to make sure she did everything right. Except that her grandfather, well, wasn't actually there. But it was the thought that counted.

Outside, the sun was starting to set, and with its final rays of light it reflected off the now-polished shotgun, Lee felt that the next chapter of her life was about to begin.


	15. Clockwork Hearts

**[A/N] Jeralee: **yaay! 8D Your reviews always make me so happy~ And I'll try to keep updating once a week, though it's getting a bit difficult to find time to write in between classes, homework and feeling like shit, ahahaha... I'll continue giving it my best shot anyway!

* * *

"God fucking damn it all," Dante ground out, his fist meeting his desk with way too much strength, more than intended.

His gaze shifted from the pizza box which he had just opened and contained a pizza with - guess what - olives, to the dent he had just made. How was it possible that they kept forgetting that he didn't like olives? How was it even possible that he always ordered his pizza, specifically without olives, yet they always managed to give him pizzas _with_ these fruits that came straight from the pits of the Underworld itself? Normally he would just shrug it off and begin to pick them off and throw them away, but enough was fucking _enough_!

The devil hunter sighed and slumped back into his chair, hitting himself on the cheeks a few times as he did so. He knew perfectly well that this wasn't just about that stupid pizza. Fuck that stupid pizza, he actually didn't even feel like one in the first place! How come he had ordered one when he didn't feel like it?

...because that was what Dante always did.

He let out a groan and placed his elbows on the desk, resting his head in his hands as he evaluated his hopeless situation. He had given himself a little too much free reign, and now he was in a predicament like this.

Why did he have to care so much about her?

Now don't get him wrong. Dante cared as much for humans as the next devil hunter... no, that wasn't right. Dante just cared very much for humans, wanted to help and protect them.

His mother had been the cause for that, the shining light in what seemed to be his otherwise dark past. She had been the only human he had truly loved. Whether as punishment for himself because he couldn't protect her, as retribution, or just to prevent the same from happening to anybody else, he had set out to slay any demons who stood in his path and displayed evil intentions towards humans.

But he had never really _cared_, like he did now. He didn't ponder about anybody's current situation when there didn't seem to be any immediate danger and he most certainly wasn't used to being... _worried_ for the safety of a... friend, if that was what he could call her.

She had seemed accepting enough of him, in her own, curious way. It hadn't taken long for him the realise that, the more she pushed him away, the more she truly wanted him to come back. Typical woman, right?

In the beginning, she had been just another human being. A rather queer one, at that, with all the quirks and whatnot, but to the half-demon still just another human he would protect, as he did with all the other humans. When he had noticed her fear of contact on not just a physical, but on an emotional level as well, and how she had somehow become 'fond' of him, he thought that he would be doing her a favour by trying to pull her out of her shell.

Now he was starting to realise that she had ended up doing _him_ a favour as well. Most of the humans who knew the truth about him hadn't exactly had a normal past, to put it mildly.

There was Lady, who had known her way around even before he had met her. She hadn't even known him as a human in the first place. Patty he had met through a mission, though whether she could be considered normal was questionable; after all, one of her ancestors had been some powerful alchemist who could summon and control demons. Then there was Alice, whom he wasn't even going to think about, and Enzo and Morrison, who had both provided him with odd jobs and therefore didn't count as ordinary either, according to Dante.

But _she_... Despite her intricate behaviour, for all intents and purposes she had been 'just' a normal human being who just had a knack for sticking her nose where it didn't belong, despite his warnings. She had probably not even been able to process whatever this Atlas was when the half-demon had thrown his story at her, yet she had managed to hold her ground, against all his expectations.

'Hold her ground'. Dante laughed at that. Hell, she had practically sought the demon, had brought the battle to the monster itself, and that even though she knew she had no chance of winning. Somehow, Dante thought that it wouldn't take long until she'd learn the ropes of how to kick demon ass, with how much he knew that she hated being saved by him. Still, one couldn't be too careful.

And then she had gone and hit the nail right on the head by telling him the truth about his own feelings, feelings he himself would rather not think of. It had made something inside of him snap and he realised that she hadn't been the only one holding back. The devil hunter had been so busy doing what he did best, that he hadn't had the time to realise the development that had taken place inside of him.

Maybe it had started long ago, in the hospital. Maybe it had started when he saw her ready to throw her life away in a feeble attempt to take down a demon at least thrice her size. Or maybe the way that fighting together, even for the first time, had come to the two of them as easy as breathing did?

"Ah, what does it matter anyway," the man muttered, shaking his head as he did so.

She had seemed to realise her mistake even before she had made it, and had grabbed the first chance she received to get out of here. Dante knew far too well that, if it depended on her, he would probably never get to see her again.

The sound of the telephone ringing interrupted him in his thinking, and even without having picked up yet, he couldn't help but have a premonition about who was on the other side. A smirk appeared on his face as he corrected his previous thought: it seemed as though it didn't depend on her after all.

_You know, you could also help her efforts of staying away from you,_ a voice muttered inside his head, to which Dante simply replied, _Go fuck yourself._

The voice sighed and complained, _I would, but you know very well who will keep appearing._ Dante ignored it and picked up the phone.

"Hello James," Dante greeted as soon as he held the horn against his ear without waiting for the person on the other side to introduce themselves.

"Wha- How?" the boy began, confused, but he quickly gathered his thoughts and continued, "No, never mind. More importantly-"

"What did your boss do now?" the half-demon inquired before James could go off rambling again. He twirled the cord of the phone with his finger, having suddenly forgotten the depressing thoughts that had just dominated his mind, instead concentrating on the task at hand.

"She- Boss- Chief-"

"_James_."

A short silence, before James decided to start from the very beginning. "Boss came in this morning, though not really morning but in the afternoon. She was hours too late, something that she _never_, almost kills me if I do it myself, too, and when she came in, it was obvious that she had been working out. She used to do that every morning until she was hospitalised, but I just guessed that she felt good enough to start it again."

That must have been her way to start preparing for this battle she had forced herself into, or so Dante guessed as he waited for James to continue his story. Muffled noises came from the other side of the connection and the half-demon patiently waited, though not without flicking an olive off his cold pizza and shoving the piece into his mouth.

"And well, anyway, I just happened to be standing there, talking to another officer when she barged in, far too late as I said. And I remembered that the Chief had told me that he had wanted to speak to her and that I should tell her the next time I see her, so I told her just that, and she just gave me that look she always gives me when I have to follow her, so naturally I did just that. Follow her, I mean."

Dante rolled his eyes at how slow the story was progressing. He was starting to grow rather impatient, and he doubted that anything important had happened if her partner was taking his sweet time to explain why he was calling Dante.

As though sensing the irritation rolling off him in waves, James quickly continued. "Ah, yes, sorry. Anyway, so, I foll-we went to see Chief, and even before he could say anything, she declared that she was going to quit. Just like that! Without any explanation!"

"She what?"

"Exactly! That was our reaction too! And well, after that I kind of left without waiting for her, because... Ah, never mind. I left and she didn't stop by, she just left the office. I tried calling her a while after, my anger at her turning into worry, but she wouldn't pick up and well, here I am..." James trailed off. He didn't actually want to ask for the favour, finding it kind of bad of himself that he would even request something like this.

"You want me to 'check up on her'?" Dante asked, knowing fully well what had been meant, fortunately for the boy, who heaved a sigh of relief.

"Yes. That is, if you don't mind..." It wasn't like Dante's live revolved around keeping his boss safe, after all. James could understand if the man had other things to do than babysit her in secret.

"It's fine. I'll see ya around, then," the devil hunter replied and he hung up without waiting for a response.

He didn't wait around to give his mind the opportunity to reprimand himself for being an idiot. Instead, he grabbed his coat and everything else he would need, picked up the pizza box and dumped it, pizza and all, into the bin on his way out.

A few hours later, having searched all over the place, in every corner of the city which the devil hunter could think of, he came to the conclusion that his damsel in distress must be inside her house. He couldn't just come to visit her , at least not so soon after hearing the news, for that might raise suspicion and she would figure out that he was supposed to make sure everything was all right with her. At least there hadn't been any sign of Atlas either, but if what she had told him was true, then that was because he would still be working as her Chief. Tomorrow, then, Dante decided that he would check up on her.

* * *

Lying on her couch, an arm slung over her head, Lee's mind was running amok. Partly in exhaustion, for she still hadn't had any proper sleep, partly in panic, for she had just realised something that had seemed rather trivial to her before.

If Chief were really Atlas, and if he had been planning on using the bustle of the Christmas fair to his advantage to find a quick meal, then why had he decided to send _her_ there, too? Had he thought that she would follow orders, as a taunt? Had he thought his lackey demons would stop her? Or had he just miscalculated, that it had been a mistake on his part?

Whatever the case, she had told herself many times that it no longer mattered, for it was already in the past. Her mind, however, didn't agree with this and forced her to analyse the situation once more, to try and remember the scene before her a bit better, until she found that she had actually fallen asleep.

A knock on her door startled her, her body waking her up with a jolt, and she scolded herself for being afraid. If it actually were Atlas coming to kill and eat her, it would have smashed the door in and used her surprise to its advantage. It wouldn't have knocked at her door, asked her for permission to come in and - oh yeah - if she didn't mind standing still while it ate her.

Still, Lee grabbed the gun that Dante had given her, not wanting to use her shotgun this early in a possible confrontation, as she made her way towards her door. Just before she opened it, she made a note that she had to do something about the fact that she had to actually open the door to see who was standing on the other side.

The detective groaned when she saw the man clad in red stand before her, a grin on his face to greet her with.

"What are you doing here?" she asked him, starting to grow annoyed by his following. Hadn't he said something about her enjoying how he went wherever she went? She wasn't quite feeling it right now.

"Oh, just checking on my fav-"

BANG.

"OW! WHAT THE FUCK!" Dante yelled as he hopped about on his left leg while he tried to cradle the other in his hands.

She watched him react and saw, with inner glee, how his face turned from pained to shocked as realisation dawned on him. "You shot me! You fucking. Shot. Me! Why did you shoot me?"

"Oh, I don't know. Was just testing to see whether you were actually immortal, or really hard to kill, with your demon blood and all," his friend responded with a shrug while she stepped to the side to let the devil hunter in. "Please keep my carpet blood-free."

Dante glared at her as he slowly made his way into her house, putting most of his weight on his un-shot leg. By then it had already stopped bleeding and she would notice the wound to have disappeared only a few minutes later.

"What if my human half had made me as vulnerable as a normal person? Then you would have killed your only capable ally in this battle," Dante retorted and deliberately flung himself onto her couch with such force that the poor thing skidded back a bit.

"I would have finally freed myself of you. Doesn't that count for something?" she shot back at him, closing the door before sitting down in the armchair next to the couch while trying her very best not to feel too annoyed by the change Dante had made to the room.

After sitting in silence for half a minute - Lee with her arms crossed and a frown on her face, Dante looking as though he were sleeping peacefully without a care in the world - she let out a frustrated yell. Getting up, she stomped over to the back of the couch and pushed it with all her might until she managed to get it back where it belonged.

Dante had opened one eye to follow her movements and, with a grin, commented, "Wow, I never thought you'd survive that long."

"Fuck you," Lee growled out as she fell back into her chair. "It's not like I can help it or anything. 'Dear God, it would be very great if you could turn my OCD off. Thank you very much'. Ugh."

A laugh from Dante earned him a glare from her, which silenced him again.

When neither of them said anything again for the next few minutes, Lee shot the man a look that radiated her exasperation. "What are you doing here if you're not going to say anything? Oh wait, I know, James told you to check up on me, didn't he? Well, tell him I am doing fine and that he should go on without me. I can't keep holding his hand for the rest of his life, and the chances of me getting my job back after all this are pretty slim..."

Now it was Dante's turn to frown at her, though he didn't reply at once. He turned his gaze away from her to look up at the ceiling again and her stubbornness forbade her to push him to talk back to her. He had come to visit her, then he was going to begin the conversations, too.

"Actually, I also came because I was worried myself," the devil hunter finally replied, his eyes never leaving the ceiling. Before Lee could even open her mouth to say something, he went on, "How's your wound?"

She let out a sigh and shrugged, realising that repeating her lines of 'I'm fine' and 'Don't worry about me' most likely weren't going to have the effect she was hoping for. So instead, she just answered his question.

"It's fine, it looked worse than it actually was. It doesn't even bother me that much anymore."

Dante nodded in acknowledgement, after which the by-now familiar silence returned. By now she had already gotten over her annoyance, instead picking up a book she had wanted to read through and telling herself to just enjoy the company. If such a thing was possible for her.

A voice inside her head scolded her at having such a thought. It reminded her of Dante's words, telling her that she was lonely and that, in reality, she was craving for his attention. Any attention at all, maybe. Did it really matter whether it was Dante or somebody else? Maybe enough had become enough and now her body was reaching out to anybody who dared to get too close.

Lee shook her head at that, unwilling to believe herself to be so desperate as to have such feelings. It was most likely as Dante had said: both of them were outcasts in their own ways, and that must have been what had attracted her to him in the first place.

In the meanwhile, the half-demon sitting across from her had decided to sneak a peak at her. He was surprised to find her sitting in her chair, staring at the pages in front of her with unseeing eyes, though it was obvious her mind seemed to be at war. He raised an eyebrow at the troubled expression on her face, wondering what could possibly bring her in such a position but not even bothering to answer the question himself. He was sure he wouldn't be able to guess it anyway, with her eccentricity and all.

After a few more minutes of inner debate, though she found no solution, Lee did offer herself a conclusion: whatever the case, she wasn't going to allow herself to get any closer to him. She would need him for this mission, no longer just a case, and afterwards she would part ways with him and try to figure out what she was supposed to do with Atlas gone.

With a curt nod, she concentrated on the text in front of her for the first time since opening the book, only to find that her mind kept zooming away from the words. Letters became blurry in front of her eyes no matter how much she squinted or rubbed them. In the end, she had to acknowledge the fact that she, the great detective with the even better mind, never defeated by trivial matters, could not focus on her job.

In sudden realisation, Lee lifted her head and glared at the white-haired man who looked like he had fallen asleep on her couch. His hands were tucked behind his head, which had fallen just so that he could view him from the front. The peaceful look on his face made her heart do a despicable jump and she almost wanted to stab herself with a knife so that it would never beat again.

His mouth hung open slightly, and her mind at once jumped back to the kiss the two of them had shared. She wondered how he would react if she were to wake him up by straddling him, leaning down and pressing _her_ lips to _his_, for once. She wondered how it would feel to have him press up against her from down below... and then she bit her lip to bring her out of her fantasies. Her face turned red at the disgusting thoughts that had managed to wriggle their way into her head and she hit herself with the book she was still holding.

_He needs to get out of here._

How was she going to explain herself if she were to wake him all of a sudden, her cheeks still blushing as she demanded him to leave?

_No,_ I _have to go._

And so she did. She got up, armed herself with her two guns - leaving the shotgun in its corner for now - and left the house, leaving her spare key on the pillow next to Dante's head.


	16. Don't Look Back

**[A/N]:** this song, Don't Look Back, is performed by Amarante.**  
**

**[A/N] Jeralee: **just go with laughing, I doubt Dante would mind... a lot... And glad you liked Dante's philosophical side. I felt that he could use some fleshing out by now. Also, I hope this kiss is satisfactory~

* * *

In her haste, Lee hadn't devised a plan as to _where_ exactly she planned on going, and so she decided to not think too much as she got into her car. It hadn't seen a lot of use in the past few weeks, and she hoped it wouldn't die on her all of a sudden. Igniting the engine and hearing the familiar noise, she relaxed a little into her seat as she backed out of her parking spot and drove off.

Now Lee knew that turning off her mind while driving wasn't the best thing to do, but she trusted her body enough to at least be able to drive around a bit by itself. She rarely let her instinct do what it wanted, and so she thought that, especially now that she had no idea what she wanted to do or where she wanted to go, maybe it would get her out of her bind for once.

Turns out that her instinct didn't think very favourably of how she kept it locked up most of the time. She probably should have reckoned with that.

When Dante had arrived at her door, it had already been nearing nine o'clock in the evening, so it was now rather dark outside, the streetlights only adding to the eerie atmosphere she found winter always gave her surroundings. With the chance of snow and icy roads at every moment, most people favoured staying inside or going places by foot over using the car, and so the road was practically deserted as Lee made her way through the streets, careful of the fresh layer of snow that had just been dropped.

Christmas was getting far too close for her liking, too, and she couldn't stop thinking about how she had been so stupid as to promise Dante that the two of them would be spending it together. She felt that, now that she had said it, the devil hunter would almost be expecting her to hold up her end of the bargain. She didn't want to imagine the disappointment the poor man would feel when he found out she wasn't planning on doing anything of the sort after all, and then she went on to reprimand herself for even being considerate of his feelings. Had she already forgotten that speech she had given herself of everyone and everything breaking her heart if he or she or it got the chance? No, obviously she hadn't... then why wouldn't she just give up trying to think of excuses as to why she _should_ get close to others? The whole ordeal with James should have been proof enough that people with connections to her always end up being unhappy. She wasn't the only one whose heart kept getting broken; she herself broke others' hearts as well.

_That's right. You don't deserve to be happy,_ a voice inside her head snapped in anger.

Lee bit her lip and ignored it, pretending to concentrate on the road ahead of her instead. It didn't seem to like that because it let out a 'hmpf' and left soon after. Fortunately, too, for her chastising herself over everything she did was quite enough; she didn't need other voices inside her head doing the same as well.

As the car slowly rolled on, the soft hum of the engine was the only sound filling the air - for Lee found buying CDs a waste of money and would rather shoot herself than listen to that horrible shit on the radio - and it almost lulled her to sleep as she tried to keep her mind empty of all thoughts, be they negative or positive. Her body, however, did a good job at doing what it was supposed to do: not get itself, and any bystanders if possible, killed when put on autopilot.

Only about half an hour later did she actually start wondering where the hell she had ended up driving towards, for the darkness ahead of her shocked the detective back into full consciousness. The streetlights had disappeared, and looking back proved that they had been gone for quite a while. Lee always automatically, and uncontrollably, clenched and unclenched her jaw with the passing of every light, but she hadn't realised that she had stopped doing so.

That meant she must have left the city a while back, but as she looked around for any clues as to where she might be, she couldn't discern exactly which exit she had taken, and thus had no idea where she had ended up.

Lee frowned and then proceeded to look around for a place to turn around so that she could just take the same road back. Then she realised that she was all on her own out here, so nobody would care if she turned on the middle of the road, but just as she was about to make a u-turn, what she would call her instincts 'told' her, as it were, to keep on driving.

Though her instinct had most likely been planning its revenge against her, it had probably saved her life by preventing her from turning back.

And so, utterly confused and lost, Lee drove on at an even slower pace than before, squinting her eyes to make sure she didn't happen to lose the road and enter the woods, or some nonsense like that. As if being lost like this wasn't bad enough, losing her vehicle by driving into a tree was the absolute last thing she needed.

It didn't take her much longer to notice that she had somehow ended up in the industrial periphery, situated a ways from the city and near the ocean, from where the place got most of its shipments by boat. Lee had no idea what kind of work was performed here, hadn't ever been here before, either. She had no clue why she was here, and she hadn't the foggiest where she was going either, what with not being able to see anything for the lack of proper lights in the vicinity.

Driving between piles and stacks of crates and containers, eventually the silence became too much even for her, and so her hand, trembling under the sudden pressure of the stifling atmosphere, reached out and wandered across the dashboard in search of the radio's controls.

Yes, that's right. She had used that radio so little that she couldn't situate its on-and-off button in the dark.

Giving up half way through her search, and not daring to tear her eyes off the path ahead of her, she instead moved her hand to the steering wheel, deciding that maybe two hands having a firm grasp on it seemed the safest option right now. Not that that extra hand would help her a lot in the coming events.

The start of said events were signalled when, all of a sudden, a cold rush ran over her skin, leaving goose bumps in its wake as it went from the tip of her toes to the top of her head.

As if that hadn't already been enough of a signal, the hairs on the back of her neck stood up and all Lee could utter was, "Fuck."

That's what she got for leaving the safety of Dante's companionship, no matter the effects of his presence had on her. Would she rather be dead, or would she rather feel flustered and embarrassed? No? Exactly.

She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and tried to concentrate on the situation at hand. She was driving through a narrow corridor of containers - why was it that all her encounters were in places such as these? - and the light of her vehicle's front lamps was barely enough to discern the splits in the 'road', never mind what was hiding around the corners.

What to do? What to do?

What _could_ she do? She might have had some specially-powered gun made by Dante, but she had been stupid enough to leave her shotgun behind.

But then again, what good would her shotgun have been, stuck in her car, unable to manoeuvre herself properly? It would have given her nothing more than false confidence.

Having been too busy with her thoughts once again - the downside of her genius, if there ever was one - it came as a surprise to her when her surroundings disappeared all of a sudden and she entered a large clearing, the piles of containers having been left behind her.

"No!" she yelled, mad at both the situation and at herself for letting her guard down like that.

She hadn't even been able to take any measurements, such as reversing back into the narrow pathway between the crates, or grabbing her guns and leaving her vehicle to run for cover, when the world around her started to shake violently.

At once, Lee recognised the noise as Atlas's feet pounding against the ground beneath it and she knew that it had been lying in wait, hoping for just a moment like this. Why it had even known she would be here at this moment was beyond her, but she didn't exactly have enough time to ponder the answer to this question as she saw the glint of its huge body rushing towards her from her right side.

Rolling down the window and grabbing Dante's gun at the same time, she aimed and shot at the monster, hoping to set it off its course, or to just delay it until her brain felt like working again.

It seemed that she had no such luck, however, as Atlas continued its rush towards her, even though the liquid gleaming in its face made it evident that she _had_ hit it a few times. The fact that she had managed to make the demon bleed, thanks to this gun Dante had given her, gave her a feeling of victory, but she rolled up her window back up anyway, just in case that something like that might help. Or maybe it was just the need for closure forcing her to do so.

That feeling of victory wasn't very long-lived, however, as only moments later it crashed its bleeding head against the side of her car.

Only when she saw the door to the passenger's side bend in towards her did she start to feel afraid, dread filling her as she chanced a glance in the opposite direction and found that the ocean was far closer than she had liked. She tried to calm herself down by telling herself that the distance between herself and the end of what she now noticed to be a dock was too large to ever reach it like this.

Apparently even her acquaintance with Dante hadn't prepared her for the actual strength of a demon. Atlas retreated in haste, only to turn around again once it deemed that it had put enough room between her car and itself to pick up speed and finish what it had started.

This time, when its head rammed her car, it didn't just make a dent. Instead, it sent her, one tonne-weighing vehicle and all, practically flying through the air. Because of the speed of the demon, her car didn't just smash into the ground afterwards. Instead, it rolled over a few more times, violently at first, until it slowed down into a maybe-maybe not toppling over onto the other side.

When the detective's car finally stopped moving, she was hanging upside down, trying her best not to throw up from both the sharp pain in her head, having hit something during the rolling, and the rolling itself.

So there she hung, upside down in her car. She tried her best to stay as still as possible, which wasn't a difficult task seeing as she was still swimming in and out of consciousness. She didn't know where she was right now, but her gut told her that it couldn't be anywhere good, like far, far away from the sea. The creaking sound her car was making and the feeling of it slowly tipping over weren't helping the situation at all and by the time she knew for a fact that she was lying on the edge of the dock, she was already plummeting towards the waves of the ocean beneath her.

Suddenly very alive and awake again, a scream left Lee's throat but it got cut off by a splash as her car landed in the sea, her head banging against the steering wheel as she hit the waves, water seeping into the vehicle through cracks she didn't even knew were there. In the first few seconds after, she was out cold; the only thing filling her vision a blinding whiteness that reminded her of a certain someone's hair.

"Dante," she mumbled and her heart did that damned jiggle again, but it stopped at once when she felt cold water encasing parts of her legs and she remembered what was going on.

The first thing she did was unbuckle her seatbelt, her mind uncannily blank as she tried to do so. There were no 'why's or 'how's; there was only the will to survive. That only got worse when the bloody thing seemed to be jammed and all the tugging of her heavy limbs wasn't helping one bit.

As the water rose to her hips, so did her panic. She let out another cry of despair and looked around frantically, trying to find something through the heavy throbbing of her head and the terror, _anything_ that could help her. On the seat next to you, she noticed her antidepressants, which she never seemed to touch these days, that had somehow fallen out of the glove compartment. That said something about how little she usually touched those bastards.

Her OCD chose the best time to kick in all of a sudden and feeling the urge to pop a pill, despite the voice screaming inside her head that she didn't have time for this, she did just that. Fortunately, her OCD did seem to realise that it wasn't time to be picky about which tablet felt 'right'. Afterwards, she sat still for a few moments, willing the medication to kick in faster with the help of the adrenaline coursing through her veins.

When it did, however, everything seemed much clearer and her panic ebbed away, though the water continued its way over her stomach. Bending down and lifting her knee at the same time, she pulled her knife out of her boot. How could she, yet again, have forgotten that she had had this with her?

With a single swipe, she unfolded it and within mere seconds she had cut herself free from the seatbelt. Everything was starting to become woozy once more as she tried to push the door open, but she remembered something about the pressure equalising and it being inhuman to open a door when the car was still half-empty.

_Dante._

Lee's heart started to throb again, this time together with her head, almost as if it were actually feeling pain at the thought of never seeing the annoying bastard again. Where was he when she needed him most, anyway? Why was she even begging for his help, anyway? What about becoming strong enough to take care of herself? Was she to rely on the man for the rest of her life?

After several more futile attempts to kick the door open, she realised she should try and smash the window open instead. By now, moving around was almost impossible because of the water that had risen to her shoulders. Her head, however, was still thinking clearly, even with the headache and... What was that?

Blood slowly dripped down her forehead from hitting the steering wheel. While softly cussing herself out for not having braced herself for the impact, she somehow managed to find her guns. Fearing that water had gotten into the barrel, she chose smashing its butt against the window instead of shooting it.

Even this was an almost impossible task, seeing as how the water was slowing her movements down. But with every bit of extra water that seeped into the car, her panic returned with a vengeance and so did the strength in her arms. A crack appeared and with hope she continued slamming at it, until a hole finally appeared and it became easier to break a hole big enough for her to squeeze through.

Taking a deep breath, she wriggled herself out of the window, receiving wounds from the jagged ends here and there but getting out unharmed for the most part. And just as she was about to permanently free herself from the sinking car, her foot caught onto something and wouldn't let go.

_Fuck._

She didn't say it out loud, afraid to lose precious air, and instead started tugging with all her might. It was the seatbelt that hadn't retracted properly, twisting around her leg as if it were alive and didn't want her to leave.

The feeling of her chest and throat tightening signalled that she didn't have much time left, and black spots were starting to swim around in front of her. She began to frantically search around for her knife, not quite sure where she had put it once she had used it. By the time she had found it, having stuck it in the pocket of her trousers, and had managed to free herself, she was already on autopilot, her body forcing her to open her mouth and inhale.

_I'm going to die._

There wasn't anything else Lee could think of as she hung there, coughing at the water in her lungs.

A current began to pull at her. To the left, then back to the right. As if the ocean was trying to lull her to sleep for the last time, trying to make her death as comfortable as possible.

It would have worked, were it not for that flash of white that reappeared, together with the feeling as if someone were hitting her head with a sledgehammer.

The flash was followed by a sudden warmth around her arms, and suddenly the current had gotten much stronger. Before she knew what had happened, a pang of air hit her in the face and she inhaled like an asthma-patient after having an attack, but then with lots of spluttering.

She even threw up a few times - mainly water - before she came back to her senses. At least, as much as that was possible with having hit her head _twice_ and having almost drowned mere moments ago.

"D-Dante?" she whispered hoarsely, her trembling fingers winding their way in his wet hair as she stared into his blue eyes.

His lips were twisted in a small smirk, but it was rather obvious that it was fake. His gaze left hers and moved up a bit, to the blood that was giving her face a beautiful war-painted look and he finally showed her the grimace that had been hiding behind his grin.

"The fuck... you doing here?" Lee managed between gasps, but the tears leaking from her eyes and mingling with the seawater on her cheek made it rather obvious that she wasn't being serious.

Dante gave her a surprised look at the sight of her crying, but instead of saying something back to her, he began to pull her along with him, back to land.

Lee herself looked back at him, just as surprised at her own tears, so many emotions and thoughts rushing through her at the same time. As Dante continued to drag her along with him, she clung to his jacket, buried her face in the crook of his neck and let herself go for once, bawling out loud to free herself from this turmoil inside of her.

Her first thought during the whole ordeal had been that of Dante, hoping he would come and save her. All this time, she had been trying to run away from him, to spare herself of yet another heartbreak, but it had all been nothing more than a lie to herself. She had already gotten far too close to the half-demon to treat him as just a colleague, to just forget about him when this was over. It would end in a heartbreak either way, anyway. Or would it?

These tears - tears of _relief_ \- were enough proof for all this. Though she wasn't exactly wanting or trying to kill herself, her suicidal tendencies hadn't truly left her as she had gotten older. She hadn't even been afraid of dying, had rather thought that she would embrace it instead, if her time were to come. Yet here she was, glad to still be alive, though she didn't quite understand how it could have been possible for Dante to find her. She had truly thought she was going to die, and had been frightened.

She hadn't wanted to die.

She had wanted to stay around for just a bit longer. To shoot this man in his other leg, perhaps. Or maybe to experience the many things she had never before been interested in with him? Perhaps he wanted the same with her?

It occurred to her all of a sudden that he hadn't called her by one of his perverted nicknames in quite a while.

A small smile appeared between her tears, and for the first time she allowed her heart to do its retarded jumping thing as she looked up at Dante.

At the sudden stop of her crying, the devil hunter looked down at her, his icy blue eyes meeting hers. He blinked a few times, the questions in his mind obvious to guess, at which she laughed. He raised an eyebrow, now clearly wondering if that hit to her head had gotten to her... well, head.

Then Lee, without thinking, pushed herself up with the help of Dante's shoulders and pressed her lips to his. Without waiting for his consent, she slipped her tongue into his mouth, caressed his own tongue to stimulate it into moving along with hers.

Instead, Dante froze up while he confirmed that hitting her head had indeed been a bit too much for her. In an attempt to save her own dignity from herself, he tried to pull her away, but she reacted to this by pressing harder against his mouth. His mouth, by then having understand what was going on, turned into a grin before he broke the one-sided kiss by turning his head to the side.

"You know, I absolutely _love_ that you're so eager all of a sudden, but maybe you should wait until we've got you some place safe and dry, and not, you know, in the middle of the sea," he murmured before pressing a kiss to the top of the detective's head.

Her cheeks flushed at her sudden eagerness and so she hid her face back in the crook of his neck.

Though her car hadn't fallen that far into the ocean, the swim back to land felt like it took ages, and in the meantime she kept swimming in and out of consciousness. She wanted to fall asleep, but at the same time she was suddenly afraid that something might go wrong if she did and that she might die anyway.

Still, the sound of the waves around her and Dante's warmth that encased and protected her from the coldness of the water managed to lull her to a peaceful sleep anyway, despite his protests. She only hoped there'd be a tomorrow to look him in the eye again and tell him of her epiphany.

She was willing to try.


	17. Epiphany

**[A/N]: **ayyyy, it's been two weeks since I updated! Sorry for that, homework got in the way, as usual.

**[A/N] Jeralee: **woot, I'm glad you liked it :D I hope this chapter won't seem very boring all of a sudden~

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The next time Lee opened her eyes, she at once realised that she was lying in a bed, packed under a pile of blankets. That also explained why her whole body was sticky with sweat.

That, however, did _not_ explain why she was stark naked.

Neither did that explain why Dante was lying next to her, though under his own blanket. Lee could only see his bare shoulders and she panicked, wondering whether _he_ was naked, too. Whether they were sharing a blanket or not, sharing the same bed, even when not naked, was just too much for her.

Apparently, her stirring about had woken Dante up and he rolled over onto his side, closer to the detective. His blanket fell from his shoulders, down his arms, and rested in the small curve of his hip, giving her full access to his toned chest, though she wasn't quite in the position to take pleasure in the sight of it.

"What's wrong?" the devil hunter asked, eyes still half closed in a groggy attempt to wake himself.

"W-what's wrong?! You- We- You do realise we're lying naked in bed together, right?" Lee shot right back at him, not giving him the chance to come back to the living in a peaceful manner.

Dante blinked a few times before he ran a hand through his hair. "Yes, I know that you're naked. I was the one to undress you, after all. You know, because you were wet and shivering and that's the first thing one does most of the time in such a situation."

Lee mentally cursed when he didn't elaborate on the part of whether or not he was naked, too. Still, she did try to calm herself down a little by telling herself that the guy hadn't been meaning to take advantage of her. He had wanted to save her.

"I never thought you'd be so uncomfortable about it. Last time you seemed to flaunt your assets freely."

Okay, so maybe he had been trying to take advantage of her. A little. But remember, he had also wanted to save her.

"And anyway, I remember you were quite passionate about kissing me yesterday when I was pulling you out of the water."

The bastard quirked an eyebrow to add to his challenge, the corner of his mouth turning upwards into a tiny smirk, which made her frown back at him.

"There's a huge difference between wanting to kiss someone and wanting to share a bed with them," Lee retorted while she struggled to enlarge the distance between the two of them. No matter how much she hated the situation, she wasn't quite willing to trade this warm nest of hers for the cold outside world. And destroy any decency she had left by displaying herself in all her nakedness before the man, while conscious.

The smirk on Dante's face only grew at her words. "Are you telling me that that kiss was an 'I want to kiss you' kiss, and not a passionate 'I'm not dead' kiss? Because I can totally understand the latter, if that's what you meant."

Despite the smile on the man's face, Lee managed to see the sadness hidden behind it. She wondered whether that sadness had always been there without her noticing it, or whether this matter was so important to him.

Whatever the case, she knew that his question was a test, her last chance to get out of this while she still could. He wasn't stupid, and her saying she wanted to kiss him was enough to insinuate the truth. But exactly because he wasn't stupid, he knew how difficult it was for her to admit it, and that she might regret it.

She didn't answer immediately, merely stared at the ceiling with unseeing eyes, running her mind over the options presented to her. She could take the escape and try fleeing from the reality of her feelings once more, or she could make good on her promise to herself and just say 'fuck it all' for once.

The moment she glanced towards Dante, who lay next to her in silence and patience while he waited for her to answer his question, he knew the decision she had chosen.

Probably in a bout of happiness, he ducked towards the woman in an obvious attempt to kiss her, but she dodged him by jumping out of bed, holding one of the blankets around her.

"Please don't do that," Lee almost begged as she wrapped the blanket around herself, shivering at the sudden cold.

"What, kiss you?" Dante inquired as he sat up in bed, his own blanket pooling around his hips to reveal a pair of black boxers. "And you really shouldn't go out like that. You've probably got a fever."

But the other shook her head and would have none of it. Instead, she held her hand in the air, pointing with her finger towards the man, a stern look on her face.

"First of all, no sharing beds, whether naked or not."

Dante pouted a little and crossed his arms over his chest, but nodded anyway. "Fine."

"Secondly, no hugging or kissing all the time."

At that, Dante's eyebrows shot up. "But isn't that the whole point of a relationship?"

Lee gulped at hearing that, still finding it a little scary to coin whatever was between the two of them as 'a relationship'. It was better than if he had gone and called her 'his girlfriend'...

"How do you plan on ever having sex like that?" he continued, talking about the foul subject as though it were nothing.

To him, it probably was. It wouldn't surprise her if he had had it many times, with many different women... but she hadn't, of course. Everything she did with Dante was going to be her first, even just the 'wanting to be near someone' part of it all. If being in the company of someone in a sexual manner was going to take her a while to get used to, she wasn't even sure if the two of them would survive long enough to come to the part where both felt comfortable with something so intimate.

"Okay, we're going to have to talk about that. I'm going to go ahead and propose that, since it seems that everything goes with you, we will be venturing down this path of 'a relationship' on my terms, got it?"

"So no sex?"

"No... not yet, at least."

"...is this thing between us monogamous?"

"Yes, I suppose it is."

"Well shit."

Lee blinked a few times, confused. For some reason, it disturbed her to think about the devil hunter having had sex with anybody in the time that she had known him, though of course that was his own business.

"Can I still go to strip clubs?" he then asked, looking rather hopeful.

Now it was Lee's turn to raise an eyebrow. Was it normal that women kept their men on such short leashes these days? Did that not only inspire more cheating than letting them do what they willed? "You can look, but no touching, got it?"

"That's fine by me," Dante replied, holding his hands in the air in a show of submission.

Not that she needed it, for though she never asked about it, she understood that this must have been a just as large step for him as it had been for her. He had lived in solitude for most of his life, too, and though he had met many people, not many still hung around. Though he would never tell her, she knew that he partially blamed himself for his mother's death and she knew that she wasn't the first human he had helped out with a demon-problem, seeing as he had a whole business running on it. She figured it was his way of repenting for his 'sins', and the fact that in all this time, she seemed to be the first to capture him like this. It just couldn't be a coincidence.

Her own layer of protection slipped away at the thought, and she relaxed against the wall she had been standing all this time. Staring at the wooden boards beneath her feet, she began to count them as she began to take slow steps. Slipping back under her mountain of blankets once she had finished, she kept the distance between the two of them as large as she could. Dante, however, seemed satisfied enough and she could catch a glimpse of his smile as he turned onto his other side, his back facing her as he went back to sleep. She herself, on the other hand, commenced to stare at the ceiling and the walls, her eyes sliding over and counting every single detail of his bedroom that she could see without sitting up.

* * *

A few hours later, after Lee had decided to get up after all and was cleaning the entire house because she refused to see the horrible state everything was in for a second longer, a half-dressed Dante came rushing down the stairs. When his eyes fell on her back as she scrubbed away at something in the kitchen, he relaxed and continued to dress himself while he went after her.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked, his voice somehow a mix between sternness and playfulness as he leaned against a wall to watch her.

"As you can see, I'm cleaning. But I assume you don't have a clue what 'cleaning' means, for if you did, then I probably wouldn't be doing just that in this instant," the detective shot back at him.

"You're going to get sick if you don't rest properly. You do know you've been wounded, right?" he countered while he took a step forward and held his hand out for her, obviously wanting her to give him the scrubbing sponge she held in a death grip.

Lee glared at his hand and pressed a finger against the bandage wrapped around her temple, the mention of her wounds at once bringing back the pounding headache. She also remembered all of a sudden that Dante had woken her up at regular intervals in the middle of the night to make sure she didn't have a concussion.

"I'm fine. I've had worse," she muttered as she continued scrubbing the counter top, only for Dante to wrap his fingers around her wrist and practically tear the sponge out of her grasp.

"I thought you were an independent woman who would hate staying at home and cleaning the house," Dante said rather cheerfully all of a sudden, chucking the sponge over his shoulder and into the bin that stood in the corner.

That earned him a scowl from Lee as she followed the sponge's path until it was out of sight, after which she crossed her arms under her chest and leaned against the soppy counter top. "You got that right. But I guessed you'd think it even worse if I were to just get up and leave, and I couldn't stand the stink of this place any longer."

Dante laughed at that and turned around to leave the kitchen with her following him.

"Come, I've had a lot of time to think and I've got a few plans I want to discuss with you," she began as she sat down on the newly-cleaned couch and watched Dante take his spot behind his desk.

He threw her a sceptical glance before responding with, "No way am I going to let you leave the house just yet."

An incredulous stare from her, accompanied by silence, attracted the man's attention from sifting through the piles of papers that he had stacked on his desk. He looked up, only to find Lee almost gaping at him. "You're going to catch flies like that, you know."

She shook her head, tried to gain her own bearings once more. When it seemed that Dante was no longer paying attention to her, she shook her head one last time and made her way to the door. There was no way she was going to let someone tell her what to do.

"Now just-" Dante began, but even before he had finished his own sentence his hand grabbed Lee's arm, stopping her from proceeding, "wait a minute."

In her shock at his speed, she even stopped breathing for a moment, only to come back to reality when she told herself that the half-demon would never actually hurt her with his powers. And as she did so, a thought dawned upon her, something she hadn't realised just yet.

Turning around to face the man, who kept her arm captive, she asked him, "Why don't you go to the office right now and take the Chief out in his own room?"

Her offence from a few moments ago had all but disappeared, having been replaced with a challenging tone that she directed towards Dante. The question seemed to take him by surprise, and he let go of her arm.

"Well... you see..." he began, rubbing the back of his head and averting eye contact all of a sudden, the reaction making Lee frown. "You saying you think the Chief is Atlas is all good and well, but you don't have any actual proof. I can't risk killing an ordinary human being, no matter how much of an asshole he seems to be, just because of your... gut feeling, or whatever it is."

At first, there was silence. The detective did this on purpose, for seeing the state he was in, she just couldn't help but want to bully him a bit more. When she felt that she had tortured the poor man enough, her laughter filled the air.

"I'm glad you're having a good time right now, but if it's okay with you, could you please explain what's so funny?" Dante asked. His voice was laced with annoyance as he pulled away from her, feeling a bit insulted by her mirth.

"Why would you be so afraid to tell me something like that?" his friend finally inquired after a while.

At hearing that question, Dante once more began to look a bit uncomfortable. Embarrassed, even. "I thought it was a shared thing between women to demand full trust and support from their male partners, whatever the situation?"

"You thought it would be a good idea to apply something that might be common in women to _me_?" she shot back at him as she raised a sceptical eyebrow.

"...you got me there."

Lee shook her head as she smiled a small smile. "If anything, your denying me because you don't completely believe me yet has only made you rise in my esteem. I don't need someone who follows me every step of the way as my equal. I'd rather be challenged to try my very best to get what I want, than to get everything done with the snip of a finger."

"What about James? I bet he'd do almost everything you'd ask of him," Dante retorted and crossed his arms, a playful look on his face. On the inside, however, he felt rather proud that he had managed to receive an indirect compliment from her. It had become obvious that she didn't treat people like she did because she felt like it, but because, maybe, she felt disappointed by their lack of... whatever it was that she expected from them.

"Ha!" Lee let out another bark of laughter. Then all the cheer in her expression was replaced by seriousness, and she stated, "No, James is my student, I'm his mentor. If I coddle him like a baby all the time, the boy will never be able to stand on his own feet for once. I think being left without me all of a sudden will do him good."

"You can't imagine how glad I am that I never had to learn anything under you." Dante shuddered.

At that, Lee allowed the corner of her lip to twitch up in a smirk. "Oh, but you still have a lot to learn."

With that, she turned on her heel and made her way through the room to gather her coat and guns. As she did so, she unintentionally and unconsciously swayed her hips, which forced Dante to bite his lower lip while he watched her move about. He didn't doubt her words for a moment.

"To start with your first lesson: nobody, and I mean _nobody_ tells me what to do."

In the end, Dante followed Lee all the way back to her own house, where she would allow him to take care of her for a few days.


	18. Times Like These

**[A/N]: **woohoo character development!

**[A/N] Jeralee: **yeah, with characters like Dante and Lee getting together in a relationship I guessed they'd have some serious talking to do, first xD More talking in this chapter, though, but the peace won't last long *cackles*

* * *

The fever Dante swore Lee would get never came. In fact, she felt better than she had in a long time, but perhaps that was because of the fact that, at least for a little while, she allowed herself to rely on someone else for once. Dante was here to help her with Atlas, and since she viewed him as her equal, she gave him enough credit to be able to actually help her. When she was with James, she always forced herself to worry about both the case and James's welfare, all on her own. Of course nobody knew of this.

And now that she had let Dante in, she didn't even have to worry about spending Christmas alone, or telling Dante that she didn't want to spend it with him after all.

In the end, perhaps that was what she should have done instead.

The very moment he realised she wasn't going to back down and give in to him when it came to her health, he set her to work at once.

"Christmas is tomorrow and you haven't even decorated!" was what he had said before rushing over to his own place and coming back with two moist boxes filled with Christmas decorations that was she-didn't-even-want-to-guess-how old. From the mouse-eaten holes in not only the carton boxes, but some of the decorations as well, they must have been _very_ old. But then again, Lee didn't even know how old Dante himself was. He looked to be somewhere between thirty and forty, but who knew how old he actually was, what with his demon blood and all.

In dismay and disgusted by the state of the box handed to her, the detective even pulled on a pair of latex gloves before touching it. Obviously it was far too late to begin worrying about acquiring a fear of germs. But just look at all that _mould_. Dante, on the other hand, dove right in, eagerly emptying the contents while reminiscing about all the Christmas memories he had made through the course of the years as he examined each piece of decoration, trying to figure out whether it was worthy of his girlfriend's living room.

In the end, she wasn't the one to decide what was and wasn't worthy. All she got to do was say where and how everything was placed, with Dante for once giving in to her tendencies seeing as how he was practically forcing her into this in the first place. But with that cheerful smile on his face, combined with that stupid jiggle her heart kept doing, and was now allowed to do, it seemed impossible to feel grumpy.

When everything had been hung up in its allotted spot - Christmas garlands pinned to the tops of the book shelves and doors, some holly stuck to the lamp, festive candles spread throughout the whole house, a creepy Santa Claus toy that began to dance and sing whenever its button was pressed that Dante had strategically placed in the middle of the table - the corner of the room looked rather bare all of a sudden. It was then that the devil hunter spontaneously decided that they needed a Christmas tree and he stormed out of her house. The only thing she heard him yell rather helpfully before he disappeared was, "Christmas tree!"

Thus Lee was left by herself in this decorated room, shaking her head at the man's hopelessness. He had even forgotten to close the door behind him. Or he just hadn't felt like it. Whatever the case, she did so for him and, feeling tired all of a sudden, dropped onto the couch and began a staring contest with the spooky Santa, whose face would forever be stuck in that jovial laugh, his face filled with mirth no matter how fucked up his life was. After all, who could possibly enjoy being still for 334 days a year, only to be pulled into the light and put into movement for the last 31 days of the year? Definitely not Lee.

Her gaze glided from Santa to the phone lying next to him, and unwilling to recognise the fact that you had just lost that staring contest, she wondered if perhaps she should contact James. After all, it was Christmas tomorrow. It would be the first time in... well, since meeting the boy that she'd spend Christmas without having him annoy the shit out of her about it. He would go on and on and on about this super awesome present he had bought her, hinting that she should get him one too, though she always ended up buying lame last-minute gifts that were practical more than emotional. A bottle opener, something to drink, a letter opener, batteries... Then he'd go on and on about this stupid Christmas party he was going to, and he'd invite her several times and would always look just as upset with every time she shot him down. Somehow, she missed having him scream 'Merry Christmas!' into her ear and forcing her into one of the three mandatory hugs he gave her each year: Christmas, New Year and her birthday.

In the exact same moment that Lee lifted her hand to reach for the phone, the doorbell rang through the house, effectively making her freeze up. She waited for a few moments, almost expecting that chill running over her skin that had become her way of identifying whether Atlas was in the vicinity, but nothing happened. Perhaps one of his lackeys, then? She launched into the good old debate about why one of the guys chasing her wouldn't ring her doorbell when they were planning on killing her anyway.

Pulling her out of her repeated thoughts, the person behind the door decided to press on that cursed button again. Irritated and disrupted, she got up and stalked over to the front door, once more cursing herself about that missing peephole she still hadn't managed to get. Perhaps Dante had ordered something, seeing as how he seemed to have made himself rather comfortable in her house in but a few hours.

No thought of hers could have ever prepared her for what actually stood on the other side of that door, though. Maybe she had even preferred that surprise attack from Atlas or one of his dudes.

"Hello," the person Lee hadn't seen in years said with a small, sad smile as she lifted her hand to wave at the other.

Lee's fingers twitched and curled into a fist in order to keep control over her body, lest she might tackle the girl and start to strangle her.

"Hi Anna," she responded coolly to the sister she had wanted to forget.

* * *

And so it happened that when Dante returned from his search for the perfect Christmas tree, he threw the door open, triumphant, only to back down at the electricity that seemed to hang in the air. His eyes landed on the pair before him: Lee, sitting on the couch with a sour look on her face, arms crossed under her chest, and a woman he hadn't seen before walking around the room as though she owned it, investigating every corner of the house.

"Hmm I don't remember you ever being such a fan of Christmas," the stranger noted as she tapped a finger to her chin, confused. If she had managed to not notice Dante's loud entrance, she did not show any signs of acknowledging his presence.

"Don't worry, Dante. Just ignore this foul creature and put the tree up somewhere." Finally, somebody gave him a hint as to what was happening. Note the sarcasm.

"Am I allowed to ask what's going on here?" he asked as he slowly crossed the room to the empty corner, trying his best not to turn his back to either of the women. Though the unfamiliar woman hadn't shown any signs of aggression, the fact that she resembled Lee in certain ways told him that she could probably scratch his eyeballs out just as easily as the familiar version could. That in itself was enough for Dante to realise that this woman must be Lee's sister that she hadn't told him about, but he didn't want to come to any hasty conclusions.

Before Lee could open her mouth, however, her sister had already replied. "Oh, please don't mind me. Or my sister, for that matter. Just checking in with my only remaining long-lost relative. No, I don't consider our aunts or uncles relatives. You know how I hate old people."

The detective shot a look at the devil hunter, obviously telling him 'I fucking told you so'. He responded by shrugging and shooting her an innocent grin before he went back to throwing decorations onto the tree.

"And you've gotten yourself a manservant. _Nice_."

"Now wait just a mi-" Dante began, but was cut off by the looks that Lee and Anna shot at him. He held his hands up in a defensive manner and finished his sentence with a mutter, "Fine, I have now turned into a manservant."

While Lee's sister remained humorous about the whole situation, ignoring any and all glares her older sister sent her way, Lee herself kept on practically pouting, too stubborn to begin a proper conversation. Anna was the one who had somehow managed to find her address and stalk her, then she would be the one to being explaining, too. Dammit.

But silence continued to reign and her sister only kept on investigating all the books Lee had acquired over the years, pulling them out, flipping them open and glancing inside before placing them back. Probably on the wrong spot, and probably just to annoy her. It wasn't as if she hadn't lived with Anna in the same house for the majority of her life, so she knew all the things that managed to get under her older sister's skin.

"Still collecting all these useless books, too," Anna commented once she was finished with the bookcases.

She investigated the grandfather clock, wiped a finger over it and wasn't surprised to find not a single speck of dusting covering it. No where in Lee's whole house, in fact. She smiled to herself, wondering if there was something that actually _had_ changed with her sister. Then she noticed the look Dante threw at Lee and she realised that that was what she had been looking for. She didn't act on it, though, and merely went into the kitchen to continue her search.

Lee knew Anna was trying to act like her, concluding various things about something without actually having to ask about it. Her sister was trying to find out all about Lee's life without her because she was too chicken to ask her herself. How typical. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately for Lee, her sister was no where near as good as she was.

In fact, she was horrible when it came to this kind of stuff. She was the emotional sister, letting her body take over before her head could think things through. While Lee concentrated on her mind, preferred logical thinking and never really did anything, her sister went all out trying to be as beautiful as she could and hooking up with as many men who would want her. She was an energetic, unpredictable, bouncing ball of energy while Lee was a yoyo that kept going the same course over and over again, never stepping out of line. It was no wonder that things hadn't worked between the two of them when Lee would rather talk about her work while Anna preferred gushing over men.

With a long sigh, Lee finally let up. "How did you get this address anyway?"

"Oh, you know. That cute guy of yours gave it to me when I called him. What was his name? Johnny? Jones? Jamie?"

"James," she corrected her sister.

"That's the one. Seemed to be delighted to hear my voice, if you ask me. Hasn't he been getting any? I bet you haven't given him the opportunity to go out and find a date," she mused, her smile audible in her voice.

"Justice doesn't wait for lust, if that's what you're asking." And now Lee was actually feeling guilty for never cutting the poor guy some slack. Who knew what it did to someone when the only women they ever talked to was a seemingly-asexual Lee.

"Wow," Dante's voice came from Lee's right, and she jerked away from the source when she looked to the side and saw the half-demon's face centimetres away from hers. "Just, _wow_."

"W-what? What 'wow'?" she stammered, flushing and pushing the man away from her to get some breathing room.

"Oh, nothing. Except that this lady I've never seen before walks in and half an hour later she's got you feeling emotions. And she's not me. I didn't even know you had a sister until half an hour ago, never mind believing that you could have such a bond with anybody. Yet here you are. I'm so pr-"

A punch to the face got him to shut up nicely. Her heart beating wildly in her chest, she hoped her sister hadn't heard him, hadn't noticed her moment of weakness. Anna was her_ sister_, and no matter how much Lee tried to convince herself that she hated or despised her, she still loved her and was thankful for all the times she had saved her from her parents. But she liked it very much that her sister thought she hated her, because people just weren't her best subject.

However, the sound of laughter coming from the kitchen told her that she had failed in silencing Dante in time.

"Oh for god's sake," Lee's sister then cried as she came back into the living room, her eyes big and watery as she did so. "We haven't seen each other in _years_. Can't we, like, just put everything behind us? Start over? Fuck, I love you and I know you love me too, so stop pretending you don't. And you only hate me because of how our parents treated us differently, but they're gone now, so I don't get what your problem is."

Abruptly getting up from the couch, Lee stood before her with an angry look on her face, her hands on her hips. "My problem is-"

But she couldn't finish her sentence. When she tried to recall all the times that she had been mad at her sister, and not just because of her parents, all that came to mind were the times where they had laughed together.

Because of her sister's... promiscuity, she had often had her heart broken by men. And who else would she run to, if it weren't to her older sister? She had been the only one allowed to touch Lee back in the day, and she freely given her hugs, had made her laugh by telling her all the nasty little things she had managed to deduce from her ex-boyfriends' clothes and whatnot. Had told her she deserved better, anyway.

It was only until Lee had found that the one time she had really, actually, _truly_ needed some help in return and that her sister had dropped her that her reserve of hugs ran out and she refused to open up to anyone ever again, until Dante had come along.

There, _that_ was the thought Lee had been searching. Not all the times that her sister had stood up for her in front of her parents, but the one time she hadn't come to her rescue. That she herself had been prepared to give the whole world to her sister, but had realised that she, in fact, did not feel the same for Lee.

But now they could start over again. How many times had she not cried herself to sleep, wondering why that what had happened, had happened? Why she hadn't asked her sister herself about it? 'Why weren't you there for me?' Had that been so hard to ask, back then?

What did she have to lose? She could break her heart once more. But then again, so could Dante, and still she trusted him not to. Did this not just count as a practice opportunity to open herself further to others?

"Hello?" Anna waved her hand in front of her older sister's face as she frowned. "Have you realised that there is no problem? That you should just forgive your dear little sister for a mistake she made when she was still young and stupid?"

Something flashed behind her eyes and Lee wondered whether she was thinking about the same thing. Was this her way of asking for forgiveness for that one moment when everything had gone wrong?

"Aw come on, just give her a break. You know, if I were you, and she were my brother, I'd take him back without a second thought. And I know you want to do it, you're just afraid of the possible consequences. Well, fuck the consequences and just go along with it, for once," came Dante's interruption from behind Lee on the sofa, his nose still red from the punch she had given him moments ago.

And then with another long sigh, she relaxed and gave in. "Fine."

Her sister gave a high-pitched squeal that hurt her ears before she launched herself at her, crying and sniffling and all. Lee managed to dodge her at the last moment, however, and she ended up crashing to the floor with a scream.

"But no hugging, got it?"

She hadn't seen Dante coming, though, so when his lips met hers in a quick kiss, she was taken aback and almost stepped on her sister as she took a step back.

"I'm proud of you," he managed to say before he jumped out of range so that the punch Lee threw his way missed him. Bloody bastard, she'd get him yet.


	19. Straylight

**[A/N]: **mega chapter of ALMOST 6K WORDS. That's like, two average chapters in one. The downside of this is that I did this because I most likely won't be updating in November because I'll be writing for National Novel Writing Month so probably won't have a lot of time over to write for Dante too. Hope y'all can forgive me!

* * *

That night, 'the night before Christmas', Lee hardly slept, but that was no surprise. Her sister slept downstairs on the couch in the company of creepy Santa, while Dante slept on a mattress in her room. The close proximity was enough to make her nervous, especially since he had not taken no for an answer when he had asked for a bedtime kiss. But then again, she wanted to give him a kiss and he knew that, otherwise he wouldn't have pushed her into it. She had to overcome her boundaries somehow.

The fact that tomorrow would be the first time she actually celebrated Christmas in a somewhat-normal manner did not help her falling asleep. Dante slept right through all of her tossing and turning, snoring softly as he dreamed about who knew what. Strippers, perhaps.

Though none of them had gotten presents, her sister had been adamant in making a proper Christmas dinner and putting her kitchen table to use for once. Lee couldn't even remember ever having used it for food, to be very honest. Eating at a table hadn't really mattered, since she had had case reports to go through and no one to accompany her during dinner time, anyway.

But that all was going to change, wasn't it? She had already found Dante. And now her sister was back in her life, too. For better or for worse, she wasn't quite sure just yet.

Through all this, she wondered if she shouldn't invite James as well. Then she remembered that he would probably going out to some party or other, and that she didn't want to put him in the dilemma of having to choose between her and a party. As if she could win a competition like that, anyway. But still, she couldn't help but feel guilty, especially with her sister constantly having asked after him, wondering out loud whether he would come.

When morning had finally arrived, and a time came where it would be socially acceptable to get out of bed, Lee quickly and quietly got up. Throwing a quick glance towards Dante and seeing that he was still fast asleep, his back turned to her, she got dressed and then made her way downstairs, counting the steps as she went.

Her sister was also still asleep on the sofa. A good portion of the blankets she had given her so that she wouldn't get cold had been thrown off during the course of the night, littering the floor around her and part of the table. Even creepy Santa had somehow managed to catch a blanket, though Lee wasn't sure whether this had been done on purpose or whether it had been an accident.

Not waking Anna up, Lee tiptoed into the kitchen to find something to eat. When she had made herself a sandwich, making sure that she spread the same amount of butter on both slices of bread and arranging the pieces of cheese and ham and whatnot in a manner that they covered the whole surface but did not overlap each other, she left the house through the backdoor and, after dusting the snow off of it, went to sit on one of the chairs that had already stood there when she had moved in. There was nothing like watching the beginning of the day when the majority of the population in this time zone still slept and the only sound that filled the air came from birds and other animals, with only an occasional car somewhere in the distance.

As she was munching away on her piece of bread, she noticed a squirrel sitting in one of the trees in the unkempt garden. It almost seemed as though it was staring at her, which made her frown. When the squirrel jumped out of sight to the back of the tree, she shrugged and continued eating her breakfast. It didn't take much longer before it appeared again, circling around the trunk while it tried to get down, and she wondered why it didn't just jump down or walk down in a straight line.

Whatever the case, it stopped at the base of the tree, half buried in snow, and twitched its nose a few times as it looked around, as though it were examining its surroundings. Like it had had a wild night out and in a drunken fit had climbed into this tree, only to wake up with a hangover and no clue as to where the hell it was.

Lee smirked at the image of a partying squirrel and didn't notice that, while she continued to munch on her sandwich, the animal had slowly gotten closer to her, walking in a wobbly line. She only realised it had moved when it stood right before her and looked up at her with squinted eyes. Was that because the sun was so bright or because this squirrel was actually glaring at her for some reason or other?

There was no time left to contemplate this matter, for the squirrel launched itself at her all of a sudden. It landed on her knee, grabbed the final corner of her sandwich and it dashed away again, onto the table standing next to her chair. When it had reached the very end of the platform, it began to nibble at her bread while she stared at it in disbelief. The squirrel saw her look and it was almost as if it raised its eyebrow at her in a silent challenge while it kept on devouring her breakfast. What a cheeky little bastard.

However, Lee felt like she was having a good day, so she leaned back instead of trying to murder this beast and just admired the sight of this tiny demon in squirrel-form eating her food. It had probably had a rough night, anyway.

"Yo, what're you doing?" came Dante's voice from behind and above her.

Turning around, the detective saw that he hung out of her bedroom window, his bare chest almost shining in the bright morning light. Oh how she just wanted to - no, stop, don't go there. Not yet at least. She wasn't sure whether she was hallucinating or not, but she could have sworn that she heard a low whistle coming from the squirrel behind her.

"Oh, you know, the usual. Having my breakfast stolen by an evil squirrel," she replied, pressing a hand against her forehead to shade her eyes from the surprisingly bright sun as she looked up at the man.

Dante rested his elbow on the sill, his hand cupping his chin. He shook his head and made a tutting sound before replying, "Oh, those critters can be evil all right. Especially when they're demons in squirrel-form."

Lee swung back round to stare at the squirrel again, who had still not finished eating that tiny corner of her sandwich. It looked at her with big, round, cute, innocent eyes and may or may not have lifted its shoulders in a shrug. She may or may not need some sleep.

Dante's laughed became muffled as he closed the window and she knew he would be coming downstairs soon. After all, there were probably still some preparations he wanted to go through before they could officially celebrate Christmas this evening. Still weird to think that this would be the first Christmas in ages that she would actually celebrate. Even just thinking of hanging up decorations would have been a huge step forward from the previous years.

After a while, a squeal from inside pulled Lee out of her reveries. Noticing that the cheeky squirrel had disappeared, leaving nothing but foot - paw? - prints behind in the snow, she got up and went back inside. Her fingers were almost turning blue from the cold anyway.

In the living room, Dante stood with his back turned towards her sister, his hands covering his eyes and ears as she quickly got dressed, her face red.

"Funny. Considering your way of handling nakedness, I had thought your sister wouldn't mind me seeing her in her jammies," he mused out loud, the smirk visible in his voice.

"I told you not to listen!" Anna squeaked at him. "I actually consider my body in a sexual way. As if my older sister, who is all about being logical and whatnot, would ever think of using hers in that way."

"I'm not listening," Dante retorted, but he didn't explain any further. Lee guessed he was probably referring to the fact that he had once told her that his hearing was better, and thus putting a hand on his ears wouldn't actually stop him from hearing everything? "And you're wrong there."

He murmured that last part and probably hadn't meant for her to hear it, but she did. Turning to hide her blush from the others even though Dante couldn't see and her sister had her back turned to her as she hopped about, trying to get her pants on as fast as possible.

When Lee came close enough to Dante to touch him, he released his head and instead wrapped his arms around her, pulling him close to his chest. In a reflex, she held her breath and froze up at the close proximity before realising that it was Dante, that nothing was going to happen and that she should at least try to relax.

"This is nice, isn't it?" he murmured into her hair, his fingers rubbing annoying circles on her arms as though that would help her right now. But she knew he was just trying to get this thing to work, and she wanted it to do so, too, somehow... The two of them would never get anywhere if all they did was wait, right?

Lee forced herself to lift her stiff arms around his huge body to grab the back of those useless buckles since he wasn't wearing his red coat right now. She almost let out a sigh of relief when she finally began to enjoy the closeness, but a cough from next to them interrupted the moment and she jumped away, her hands in the air in a defensive manner.

"You know, sister, it's never a good idea to get romantically involved with your manservant," her sister said with a disapproving look, shaking her head as she did so.

"You should see the way I serve her in bed in a very manly way, now that's what I call being a manservant," Dante shot back at her, letting out a bark of laughter at the look Lee gave him.

Anna only grinned while Lee hid her face in her hands and listened to the rest of the conversation.

"So, what do you say, manservant, want to help me buy some stuff for a proper Christmas dinner?"

"Hell no, I'm not just anybody's manservant. Ya gotta earn me."

"Dammit, I always get the bad ones and sis tries it once and immediately hits the jackpot. This just isn't fair."

More laughter filled the air and Lee realised too late that her sister and Dante were a combination one should avoid at all costs.

* * *

In the end, the three of them had all gone shopping together, bickering all about what they should and shouldn't eat, how much was or wasn't needed, who was or wasn't allergic to what, or who just generally did or didn't like certain foods. A large amount of that bickering included talk about the past, for apparently the two of them had changed a lot since their years of living together.

Dante sat in the middle of all this, but he didn't seem to mind. Instead, he carefully listened to all that Lee and her sister had to say, joking here and there but mostly just finding it interesting to hear about the younger version of Lee. This was much to her embarrassment, of course. As if she wanted him to know all about the stupid things she had done and said when she had been young and inexperienced in the ways of the world.

Of course a trip to the shop ended up putting a large strain on her OCD as well, which often ended up in her shifting packages around in not only her cart, but the shelves as well. That, in itself, always ended in her sister snatching things out of her hand and putting them back _just so_ that she knew it bothered her, but didn't allow her to fix it.

"You've got to get over it someday, sis," she offered with an apologetic smile, though Lee knew that behind the kind smile she was cackling in mirth. She refrained from telling her sister for the umpteenth time that OCD wasn't something one could simply 'get over someday'.

Somehow, the three of them had ended up managing to collect enough ingredients to make a proper Christmas meal. Lee's sister had already promised that she'd be the one cooking, but Lee knew for sure that she would end up being the one to do everything while Anna lazed around, drinking from that bottle of champagne she had put in the cart, as she told her what she was supposed to do. Or Lee could just put her 'manservant' to the test and see what he knew of cooking a meal that consisted of more than just meat or a pizza.

It was between two and three in the afternoon when Lee entered the house again, carrying a pair of grocery bags. Her sister had given hers to Dante, who looked like an actual manservant right about now, peeking through the pile of bags to watch where he was going. Lee didn't pity him; it was his own fault for offering to carry them in the first place.

After emptying all the bags by herself - Dante and her sister had given her full reign over where and how everything was placed in the kitchen - her sister began to prepare the food. Dante and Lee, in the meanwhile, went on to clean the ground floor of her house, though there wasn't much cleaning that needed to be done seeing as it was _her _ground floor.

Much to Lee's surprise, Anna kept true to her promise of cooking, and rarely asked for help. Even the bottle of champagne remained untouched until later that evening. It made her marvel at how much she had grown up after all. And while she was in the kitchen, Dante and Lee conquered the couch and ended up staring at the ceiling - well, he was staring; she was counting every little speck she could find as if she hadn't already done so a million times before - while his fingers danced about on her hand, wanting to hold it but not quite daring to.

"Why don't you have a TV, again?" he asked her in exasperation, a digit dipping down to caress the sensitive skin of her palm.

"Because it'll only distract you when you actually need to work," she responded and twitched her hand to get him away from it, making him start his dance all over again.

"But you don't even have a laptop or computer. How do you keep in contact with the world?"

"I go outside, you know. I do things the way people did them ages ago when they didn't even have streetlamps."

Dante raised an eyebrow at that and sat up a little to stare into her eyes, beckoning her to tell him the truth.

"Fine. There was a computer at the office that I used to check the news. Who's got time to actually read the papers these days when you can just handpick what you want to know about?" she finally let out, to which Dante shot her a knowing grin.

Feeling at peace and having been forced by Dante to just take this one day off - after all, it was Christmas! - Lee thought that the evening couldn't get any better than this when she began to smell the fruits of her sister's work in the kitchen.

She was proven wrong, however, when the doorbell rang and she fell into what had become her usual what-if-it-is-Atlas-or-one-of-his-goons debate in which she always came to the same conclusion. Dante could have opened the door a few hundred times by the time she got up to make her way to the door, but he had closed his eyes and was pretending to be asleep. She punched him in the stomach before sauntering to the other side of the room and opening the door.

It seemed that some kind of theme was being born here, where Lee was to open the door only to be surprised by who was standing on the other side.

"James?!" she almost gasped at the young man standing before her, a shy grin on his face.

"Hi Boss," he said in that awkward manner of his as he rubbed the tip of his shoe against the pavement beneath him.

Then he held out his hand for her, and after she slowly grasped it, he said, "Merry Christmas."

A whistle from behind them interrupted the 'conversation', and Dante yelled, "Get a room!"

Before Lee could reply, her sister had pulled her inside, which caused her to pull James inside since she was still holding his hand. Then Anna forced her to release him, placed a hand on her shoulder and one on James's and pressed the two of them together, not caring whether she hurt either of them.

"There. Much better," she said with pride, nodding to herself before she went back into the kitchen.

Dante was laughing his head off as Lee and James were stuck to each other in an awkward embrace, both of them noting how she wasn't pushing him away from her in disgust. Baby steps, right?

She relaxed when she heard Dante leave to keep her sister company while she talked this out with James, and she was planning on doing just that now that she had been given the chance.

"I'm sorry," Lee murmured into his chest, only now realising just how tall he had grown. Had he always been this big, or had he had some kind of growth spurt after she had left?

"'s all right. You probably had a valid reason for doing what you did, and I shouldn't have questioned you," James replied and pulled away to look at her while she shook her head.

"No, that's not right. You shouldn't always follow me without asking questions, that's not good either. You're not my student anymore, so we should start working as equals."

Now James had never been able to boast about his extraordinary amount of manliness, but when tears started to fill his eyes Lee couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at him.

"Don't look at me like that! You have no idea what it means to hear you say that," he stammered and wiped at his eyes to get rid of the tears. She merely smiled and shook her head at him in response.

She was positive that nothing could break her day anymore.

* * *

James's arrival explained why Lee's sister had been so adamant in buying what seemed to be far too much food for a dinner that was supposed to feed only three people. She and Dante had been planning this all along.

Well, whatever the case, Lee was rather thankful for it. She didn't want to think what would have happened to the two of them if Anna and Dante hadn't brought them back together. Lee hadn't actually envisioned the consequences of her grand departure to be the end of the dynamic duo that was James and Lee.

For this, he had most likely even dropped some other Christmas party, which made it obvious how important their relationship was to him. Even just the possibility of hooking up with some woman was enough to turn his brain off, after all.

Dinner was amazing. Lee was too busy admiring the taste of the food to actually be proud of her sister, or to wonder where she had acquired these skills in the first place. She had even talked herself into drinking a glass of champagne, when normally she was disgusted by only the thought of alcohol. Mostly out of fear of becoming drunk and doing things she'd never do when sober, but today she'd let herself have one glass, because it seemed appropriate. For one night, she felt like a normal person, and she looked like one too, if one ignored the shotgun that sat in the corner of the room.

Once everyone had finished eating, Lee had had to roll the others to the living room, since they had eaten the most. She had still felt too guilty for taking this day off in the first play to eat more than she needed to, as some form of punishment. When everyone was 'seated' - Dante and Lee on the couch, James on the armchair and Anna bouncing around the room - James produced a bag of gifts as if out of thin air.

"You didn't think we were going to celebrate Christmas without presents, did you?" he asked when he saw Lee's expression.

"But I..." she began, but stopped herself just in time. Yes, you _did_ have a present for him.

She rushed back into the kitchen and opened a few cupboards before she found what she had been searching: a small, black box. She had purchased it a few months back with the idea of giving it to James at Christmas because she had vaguely remembered something about him mentioning that he likes these things.

After accepting the small box and lifting the lid off, James was surprised to see a pen that had been fashioned in some weird manner that the kids these days called 'steampunk', whatever the hell that may be.

James, however, seemed to love it and he beamed up at her as he exclaimed, "You remembered that I told you I liked steampunk?"

"James, you know, I remember _everything_," his friend responded with a sly grin as she reclaimed her position next to Dante, who casually lifted his arm as though he were stretching himself, only to place it over her shoulders. She allowed him to do so, calling it her Christmas present to him.

James's gift for Lee was a scarf, and he helpfully added that she always was the first to get sick in Winter because she never wore the proper attire for such cold weather. Her sister's present was a complimentary hat that both of them knew she would never put on, but she remembered that the two of them had never given each other serious presents. It had always been about who could embarrass the other the most.

It seemed that James had known about this, somehow, for he produced a funny-shaped package out of his magic bag and handed it to Lee to give to her sister.

All he said was, "You owe me."

Anna unwrapped it to find out that it was a dildo, and the only thing better than seeing her fumble with it and trying to play it off cool by saying she had been thinking of buying one of those was the thought of James buying it.

Lee and Dante didn't exchange any gifts, but neither of them had expected it so it didn't really matter. For the first time in ages, she felt content and happy. She considered that enough of a gift for the next ten years.

The Christmas spirit was interrupted for the last time when someone knocked on the door once more. With a frown, Lee looked at her sister, who shrugged. The looks on the faces of the others told her that nobody knew who it was.

Perhaps...

_No_. They would not knock if they were here to kill her. How many times did she have to tell herself that?

All she could think of when she opened the door was, _I fucking told you so_.

Blondie stood there, a smirk on his face as he watched her contemplate her next move.

"Sis, who is it?"

"Boss?"

It was Dante who saved the day in that moment, for Lee heard his deep voice whispering something to the others, followed by footsteps going away from her.

"What's going on?" her sister had to ask, though, and she stopped walking just as Blondie took a step towards Lee.

"RUN!" she yelled, but it was too late.

Blondie had launched himself at her at an inhuman speed, his hand that felt suspiciously like a claw grasping her throat as he propelled her backward with him on top of her, but she never actually hit the floor. In a display of power, he lifted her into the air with one arm, the muscles in his arm rippling under her sweaty palms as she tried to get him to let go of her. When that didn't work, her hands reflexively grasped for her guns, only to find that she didn't have them on her.

Shit shit shit.

Anna suddenly screamed, and it seemed that she had somehow managed to slide past Dante, back into the living room and was now staring at Lee's back as she struggled to kick her legs at Blondie's disgusting face.

She saw his eyes shift from hers to her sister's and she couldn't bear to think of what would happen if he got a hold of her, so she yelled once more, "DANTE!"

In a red flash, her hero had entered the scene, tackling Blondie, still holding her and all, to the ground. She had managed to throw her arms up just in time, saving her head from yet another hit. The hand that had held onto her throat disappeared and she rolled away from the grappling men.

Before Lee got up and ran towards her sister, she noticed the fury on Dante's face, the way his form almost seemed to change right before her eyes and she shuddered at the thought of having fallen in love with such a powerful being. It wasn't that she was afraid of him, just...

No time to think! Still gasping for breath from the hold on her neck, she ran towards her sister who was staring at the fight with wide eyes, her body trembling all over.

"It's going to be all right," Lee murmured as she pushed her into the kitchen where a distraught-looking James was hiding in the corner. Dante's serious look had probably tipped him off that something bad was happening.

He took a look at Lee's throat that had already begun to turn red and shuddered.

"What is that?" he whispered, feeling the strength that filled the air just by Blondie's presence. Plus, he knew that Dante was in the living room, trying his best to beat the bastard to a pulp, and it was taking him far longer than James would have liked.

"You wouldn't believe me anyway, so just stay put," Lee murmured as she holstered her pistols and grabbed her grandfather's shotgun.

The two of them nodded and so she raced back to the living room, where she saw that her table had been ruined and her couch had fallen onto its back. Thankfully the bookshelves had been spared... for now. Blondie had gotten up in an attempt to overpower the devil hunter, but he had jumped up just as fast in order to defend himself.

"Dante!" Lee called out, hoping that he had Blondie under control enough that he wouldn't come for her again.

The half demon acknowledged her presence with the glance of an eye. He had caught Blondie's fists and was now busy with wrapping his arms around the struggling demon-thing, trying to get his back to face her so that she could take the shot. Dante hadn't been expecting the company either and had left his guns somewhere else, too. How could they have been so stupid?

Lee aimed the shotgun at Blondie's back and pulled the trigger, the recoil making her body ache all over, but she didn't stop and emptied all the ammo that she had on her in that moment. She ignored the sweat that dripped into her eye, the pain that shooting this weapon caused in all her wounds that hadn't healed yet, the fear of Blondie turning around and ripping her heart out of her chest.

With every bullet that hit Blondie's back, he threw his head back and yowled in pain. The sound was inhuman and hurt her ears, but she grit her teeth together and paid him no heed. She blocked out even Dante's face contorting with pain as he, too, began to feel the effect of the shotgun being shot at the guy he was holding, but she was too afraid to die to worry about him and hoped he could hold out long enough for her to take care of him when this bugger was dead.

When the bastard stopped moving and slumped down into Dante's hold after Lee had hit him with her last bullet, she dropped the shotgun to the ground, panting and shivering as though she had just run a marathon.

She looked Dante over, noticed the blood splatters on his body and could only hope they weren't his, but she didn't dare to go any closer to him since he was still holding Blondie, albeit a bit wobbly. He was breathing heavily himself, too, and when he had made sure the demon no longer moved, he placed him on the floor and stepped over him to get to her.

"Are you all right?" he asked at once, not caring for his own wellbeing and immediately taking hold of her chin to inspect the mark on her throat.

"I'm fine. What about you?" she shot back at him, pulling his hands away and beginning to unbuckle the clasps on his stomach, only to have him stop her.

"Don't worry-" he began and cut himself off with a yell as he was pulled away and propelled out of the door.

Mere moments later she fell to the ground, blood from Blondie pouring all over her as he practically lay on top of her. He hissed something unintelligible into her ear, causing the hairs on her arms to stand up. Then he dug his nails, or claws, into her shoulders as he watched the pain appear on her face with a smirk.

Lee's scream of pain finally forced her sister and James out of hiding, and became mingled with that of her sister as the two of them stood in the doorway to watch in horror as Lee writhed in pain under this... monster that had the remains of a gaping hole in his stomach. Blondie looked up at the sound and locked his eyes onto Anna. Lee could almost see the gears in his head turning and wanted to shout "No!", wanted to grab him before he could leave her, but she seemed to be moving in slow-motion.

In his jump towards her sister, James was thrown out of the way. He smacked against the wall and fell to the ground, motionless. This caused her sister to scream once more, and then again even louder when she was grasped by Blondie. She struggled against his hold, but of course this didn't bring anything as he dragged her along with him to the middle of the living room.

"This is for almost killing me," he said with a laugh and he slammed his hand into her back. She no longer made a sound other than a whimper as she watched the claws of the monster coming out of her stomach.

Everything went blank after that.

Without thinking, Lee grabbed the gun Dante had given her and without actually looking, shot once more at Blondie.

The grin remained on his face even as a trickle of blood slid down in between his eyes, ran down his nose, moved over his lips and dripped off his chin onto her sister's head. He crossed his eyes to look at the sudden redness that became visible in the inner corners of his vision. While he did so, probably a bit slow of all the blood loss, he didn't notice Lee coming closer to him.

She didn't know when she had gotten off the floor, or even how, but her senses came back at the right moment. She roughly grabbed him by his hair and, fuelled by adrenaline and rage, yanked him up by the tuft she was holding, which made him release her sister. Then she pressed her gun to the side of his head and without blinking, pulled the trigger one last time.

Blondie's eyes rolled into the back of his head just as his body began to dissolve and turn into a pile of ash she could trample on later.

Immediately after, she reached for the phone that lay next to creepy Santa, lying on his side next to the broken table, and at once dialled the emergency number. Half a minute later, an ambulance was on its way.

Dante chose that moment to stagger into the room, his face falling when he noticed the state of Lee and her sister. She was about to get up and go to him, but he shook his head and sat next to her before she could stand.

"You all right?" he asked in a low voice as he helped her tear off her sister's clothes so that she could use them to stop the bleeding. It didn't look _very_ bad, there was still a chance she would make it.

"I think you're worse off," Lee replied while looking him over, but the conversation stopped when her sister stirred and opened her eyes.

"Sis..." she grumbled and Lee shifted so that she could pull her head onto her lap. "What was that? That wasn't... human, was it?"

"Shh, don't talk," she murmured as she brushed some hair out of her face.

Tears escaped the corners of Anna's eyes and in Lee's state of mild panic, she began to count them.

_One. Two. Three four... Five, six, seven..._

"Sis, I'm scared," she whispered hoarsely and Lee stroked her head in an attempt to keep both of them calm.

"Don't be. Help's on the way, you're going to be fine."

"But if I'm not, I want to say... sorry. For everything. And that... I love you."

Dante's hand found Lee's and squeezed it, but he remained silent as he watched her hold back her own tears.

"I forgive you, and I love you too," she replied with a small smile, after which her sister closed her eyes again.

Lee let her, for she could hear sirens somewhere in the distance.

Merry Christmas.


	20. That Makes One

**WARNING! MATURE CONTENT AHEAD!**

**[A/N]:** BOOYA! Almost 6k! I hope that makes up for not having updated last week as promised. As some of you may know, Dragon Age: Inquisition came out in November and I had only finished my first playthrough last Saturday and until then I hadn't really had the willpower to write something instead of romancing Cullen. Thank god that I had already written 50k for Nano in the first nine days, otherwise that would have been a heroic fail this year. But, I am updating a day earlier than planned. And oh right, I'm giving you all some Dante sex. So enjoy~!

* * *

Hospitals. Again. But this time, it wasn't for Lee, though they had patched up her shoulder and given her some pills or other. No, this time was different. She had things to _lose_ this time. It was then that she realised how much she had changed since the last time she lay in a bed in this building, and all just because she had met one handsome man. Yet because of that, she was here. And she cared. She might get crushed, again. Was this really that much better than not caring at all?

Staring down at Anna in that bed, listening to the nerve-wrecking beeping of the surrounding machinery, smelling the nauseating stench that almost seemed to promise certain death... She wondered whether _her_ visitors had felt the same. If she had even had any visitors, that is.

The sight of James sitting by the bed, gently rubbing circles on the pale skin of her sister's writs, told her otherwise. She was almost certain that he had done the same for her. And then she looked down at her own hand and saw that of a half-demon holding it, fingers moving in the same reassuring patterns. He might have made her care, but he had also given her care in return.

"So..." James began, his voice raspy from disuse. He cleared his throat before he tried again. "When do you plan on explaining all of this?"

Lee swallowed hard, her fingers twitching in Dante's grasp. He gave her a squeeze in return, told her that he could help out if needed. But no, she felt responsible. She had brought all these people together, just to end up here on Christmas Eve. She owed James at least this much.

"You... remember how I hypothesised that our culprit was neither animal nor human?" she asked him, carefully gauging the man's reaction.

At the flash of realisation in his eyes, she felt proud. But she had to say it all, just in case. Misunderstandings were the last thing they needed right now.

"Somehow, Dante and I have come to the conclusion that I wasn't exactly wrong." Another squeeze of her hand in an attempt to give her enough courage for what she was about to say. She had held this back because she hadn't wanted them to think her crazy. But then again, James had seen it with his own eyes, there was no way he could come to such a conclusion. "Apparently, demons exist. And we're up against a demon, here. What makes it worse is that the one we're up against, not the one who attacked us, that's one of his... underlings, is called Atlas and they can shift into human form and... well, we have reason to suspect that the Chief is actually a demon in human form."

James's bark of laughter filling the otherwise-sombre room snapped Lee out of whatever daze she had been stuck in as she explained the truth to him. She frowned as she looked at him, his hand still holding that of Anna while his other clutched his stomach as he chuckled at her words. Dante shrugged when she glanced at him in confusion, not able to offer her any more help.

He continued to laugh at what she had said, trying to talk in between chuckles. "Of all... the times you have... to start joking... right? Are you... trying to lighten... the mood or what? Fuck, you're not joking are you, tell me you're joking, fuck!"

The laughing turned into swearing, but he didn't ask for proof, didn't doubt a word that had been uttered. On the one hand, that made Lee feel relieved, yet on the other she realised that she thought he should have at least asked how she knew. Or perhaps he had such infallible trust in her and her judgement, that he found he had no reason to question her. Whatever the case, at least he had not claimed that she was insane.

A silence hung in the air when he finished muttering curses. Instead, everyone went to stare at the still body lying before them, Anna's chest rising, slow and steady. The only sign that she had not died yet, next to the constant bleeping of the machinery that reminded everyone in the room that her heart had yet to stop beating.

"You know, she told me that she had practised making this meal every year so that, one day, she could make it for you when she finally felt herself worthy enough to reunite with you. Because she knew how picky you are of what you eat, and that you rarely let anybody do the cooking for you," James whispered after a while. As if Lee did not already feel guilty enough in this moment.

"Please stop," she murmured in response, her fingers clutching at Dante's as she took a step closer to the bed, her other hand resting on the sheets at her sister's feet.

James ignored her, however, and carried on. "She always called me to check up on you. She knew all along where you lived, but didn't have the courage to visit you. She heard about what you had been up to through me, because she was too scared to show herself to you, because she knew she had hurt you."

"James..." She felt her eyes burn and she mentally screamed at herself that she was. _not. going. to. cry._

"And when she finally does... She ends up here..." A sob wracked her companion's body before she herself could burst out in tears at the silent accusation hidden under his words. "Why didn't you tell me any earlier? Is this why you left without a word?"

"Because... I thought I would bring you into danger." Well, look at how that worked out. "And you know what people think of me, you should know it even better than I do, since they talk about me to _you_. Do you honestly believe any of them would not have put me in an institute if I had come running, yelling the Chief is a demon in disguise? Do you believe _you_ wouldn't have done the same if you hadn't seen it firsthand? Yes, I left without telling you any of that because of that, but also because you still have all your career and life before you. I would not have forgiven myself had I been the one to ruin everything for you," she replied. Her hand gripped the sheets as she forced herself to not avert her gaze from that of James. He glanced towards Dante, standing behind her, and the sound of a shift in a leather jacket told her that the man nodded to assure the boy that she had spoken the truth. Of course now she felt insulted that James did not trust her word. Woman, did she even know what she wanted?

"You're like, only ten years older than I am," was all he said in response before he sighed, his shoulders slumping as he did so, and he turned his head to look at Lee's sister again. No miraculous change in her condition in these few moments of distraction. The nurses had said it was a wonder she was even alive, even more so that her condition was relatively stable. None of them could even remember what the excuse was that they had come up with to explain the wounds everyone was sporting: Lee's bruised neck from having been choked, James's small head wound from hitting the wall. Dante seemed to be the only one who actually looked fine, but somehow Lee seemed to doubt it.

"I... I think we should head back home for now. You'll call if anything changes, won't you?" Lee asked as she let go of the sheets and took a step back, away from the bed. "You're always welcome in my house, if you wish."

James only nodded in response, not even looking up from her sister's form. For a split second she wondered if perhaps something more went on between the two of them, and it only made her feel worse. She hoped that they'd forgive her, someday, and that everything would go back to normal someday. She realised that, if she had to give up her own life to make it happen, she would do so without hesitation.

"Don't do anything stupid, kid," Dante said before he let Lee tug him out of the room, waiting patiently for her as she completed her weird rituals before walking through doorways.

* * *

She didn't say anything, neither of them did, as she pulled him closer to her. Even in the vicinity of her own house she kept everything bottled up inside of her. Instead, she concentrated on the buckles of his outfit, the only thing betraying the slight tremor in her fingers. Why did he have buckles, anyway? The vest under his jacket already had a zipper to close it, why would anybody add buckles on top of that?

Her eyebrows dipped down into a frown as she fumbled with the blasted objects, until he lifted his hands and encased hers with his, her fingers curling up against her palm. They were much bigger than hers, completely engulfing them with ease, so steady and warm that they managed to stop the quivers just like that.

"What are you doing?" he asked, lowering his head so that his nose pressed against her shoulder, his breath tickling her ear as he spoke. He didn't ask what was wrong, didn't prompt her to talk about her feelings. Simply asked what she was planning on doing, trying to get him undressed like this.

"I hurt you," she murmured without looking at him. She directed her glare to a spot on the wall. It took her a while to realise that the spot consisted of some of James's blood from where his head had hit the wall. "I want to make sure you're fine."

"You don't have to worry about me," Dante retorted before he laughed and straightened himself as if that would prove to her that he wasn't wounded.

It didn't work, however, and Lee simply pulled her hands from his grasp - his hold on her was anything but strong - to try opening the buckles once more. This time, Dante went for her wrists, holding them too tight for her to fight back but not tight enough to hurt her, and he held them up to his face as he trailed soft kisses across the palms of her hands. He stared at her with those eyes of his as he did so, and she could almost swear that her stomach did a flip.

"For me?" she whispered, her voice cracking under the pressure of the emotional turmoil inside of her. Her cheeks flushed in embarrassment and she quickly looked away from him, but Dante seemed too distracted with something else as he let out a groan at her plea.

"Fine, but I'm not helping you."

And somehow, in the course of the next hour or so as Lee figured out how Dante's clothes worked, the two of them ended up lying on her couch. She straddled a half-naked Dante, her hands roaming his torso like they have been wanting to do since meeting him while her mouth claimed his. His cloak had been hastily thrown to the ground where all this began and the buckles and vest had disappeared during the trip to the couch, where she had tugged off his gloves before discovering the terrain of his upper body that, contrary to Dante's words, _did_ sport a few recent injuries. When her hands slipped down to his belt and began to try and tug it free, Dante reached for her wrists again to hold her back. As he did so, he managed to flip her over so that she was lying beneath him, without falling off the rather narrow confines of the sofa.

"What do you think you're doing?" he murmured, breathing heavily as his lips morphed into a smirk. "You only wanted to see whether I was injured, didn't you?"

"And you are," she retorted, as though that would get her out of this situation.

And it did, for her demeanour had seemed to change all of a sudden at the reminder of what she had wanted to do. Dante released her and, with a groan, watched her saunter off into the kitchen to get that first-aid kit again. It was getting a lot of action these days, wasn't it?

Settling down next to him as though nothing had happened prior to this moment, Lee took a look at the various lacerations on his abdomen. She trailed a finger across them as she reminded herself that he had gotten these but a few hours ago, yet they had already disappeared almost completely. The only thing that remained was the blood that had must have gushed out of the wounds that had been there a while ago. As she stared at the skin, she wondered if she could see the cuts disappear before her very eyes.

Just to satiate her own guilt, not being able to get it inside of her head that this didn't have to be the result of him holding the late Blondie - that made one, two more to go now - while she had fired her shotgun at him, she treated the little gashes as though they had the capability of killing the half-demon if left alone. She ignored any and all protests from the man himself, always swatting his hands away as he tried to stop her, until he gave up with a sigh and let her do her thing. Instead, he watched as she cleaned the blood away, disinfected every scratch she could find and finally covered them all, wrapping bandages in perfect lines across his body and redoing the whole process many times because it didn't feel right and she feared that he might die anyway if she didn't get it just right. He didn't even bother commenting on it anymore after the third do-over.

When she finally felt that she was done, she patted him twice on his back before she got up to put the kit back in the kitchen. Dante remained silent as he watched her go back and forth. Until now, he had yet to comment on the sudden burst of a make-out session that had definitely come from her side. When she was sitting next to him again, avoiding eye contact as much as possible, he decided the time had come.

Leaning with his elbow against the back of the couch, his hand cupping his cheek, he took on a graceful pose as the corners of his lips quirked up into another smirk. Before he could open his mouth to say anything, however, Lee had already pressed her mouth against his once more. She switched positions so that she was sitting on his lap, a knee next to each leg, as she pushed him against the back of the sofa. Her fingers busied themselves by tracing the bandages she had only just put there while Dante pressed his hands against her back, pulling her as close as possible, rubbing against her in more ways than one. Unlike the last time, she wasn't ashamed. No, this time she kissed him with a passion as though this were the last chance she would get to do so, moaning softly every time he nipped at her lower lip or when he became distracted by the bruises on her neck that he thought deserved some careful attention as well, the stubble on his jaw leaving tiny scratches on her skin.

Something that she could only describe as arousal stirred inside of her and, without thinking, her digits reached for his belt again, only for Dante's hands to capture hers once more. He had opened his eyes and was staring at her, an eyebrow raised at the desperation in her gaze.

"I don't think you want to do this now," he murmured, his deep voice sending shivers down Lee's spine as she fought against his grip. She didn't want to think about anything else right now, and he knew it. Knew she was only searching a distraction and that anything would do.

Or was she? Perhaps she truly was ready, only at the worst possible moment. She just couldn't forget that moment when Dante had attacked Blondie to save her. The anger on his face, the way he had almost seemed desperate to protect her. He must have been afraid to lose her, and somehow, for some reason, it stirred something inside of her. She didn't want to admit it, but the thought of this man wanting to keep her safe... well, it turned her on.

She raised herself so that Dante had to crane his neck to follow her lips. Her arms wrapped themselves around his neck as she pulled him close to her, bending down to capture his mouth in another kiss. Her hair fell over her shoulder and tickled his bare skin as she pulled back slightly, her lips hovering over his as she whispered, "I need you. _Now_."

Consequences be damned. Her body was screaming for this, so loud that she couldn't hear what her mind wanted. Not that it would have mattered, since for once both mind and body were in tandem on this particular subject in this particular moment.

Dante let out a growl as he bit her lips before he hoisted her up so that she was now resting on his hardness, the sudden pressure eliciting a moan from her. Breaking contact to press his forehead against her collarbone, he ground out, "I can't hold back if you keep saying things like that."

A sudden stillness captured the two of them, unmoving as Lee sat in silence, relishing the quenched yearning of her body. She ran her mind over the situation a few times, tried to think this through, but came to the same conclusion each and every time. Dante watched the expression of thoughtfulness unfold on her face, asked himself what was going on inside of that pretty head of hers. He was both thrilled and disgruntled by the answer she had gotten from herself.

She began to kiss him once more, this time with even more gusto it seemed, her tongue not even asking for permission to enter his mouth and instead slipping past his lips before he could respond. Dante reacted by grinding his hips into hers as he groaned. A reflex, for he was still waiting for a verbal answer from her.

"I want you to fuck my like no one else has," she murmured in between kisses, her eyes not averting contact with his. "Which shouldn't be very difficult, considering you-"

His lips found the nape of her neck and began to suck at the spot, careful not to disrupt the bandages of her shoulder. She gasped in response and shivered when he spoke, his voice laced with want, no, _need_, his breath raising goose bumps as it hit the wet skin on her neck. "Your final warning. You finish that sentence and you won't be able to claim such any longer."

"Considering you're the first to make me call his name."

But a few moments later, Lee found that her shirt had been lifted over her head and thrown to the ground. Dante's lips found hers once more, the passion from before having changed into pure lust, and she tangled her hands into his hair as his roamed her newly-bared skin. Only briefly did they linger on the fabric of her bra before they abandoned it in favour of tugging her pants down.

"You know," he said in between kisses, "I've never met anyone who could get turned on when their sister was in the hospital. Or after almost being killed by a demon."

Lee chuckled lowly, making the devil hunter beneath her shudder at the sound. He couldn't help himself and he slipped his hand between her slightly-parted legs, pressed up against her through her knickers, making her gasp. Even through her underpants he could feel how wet she was, signalling him that she hadn't been lying about her... 'need' of him after all.

"Who says it's not the knowledge that you'd go through so much to keep me safe that's making me feel like this?" she offered. She couldn't help the way her body was acting when she rolled her hips against him, pressing his hand against himself with her on top. A low moan left his throat before he attacked hers, no longer able to be careful with the bruises there, but she didn't wince at the discomfort either.

Breathing heavily, she grabbed his belt yet again and was finally allowed to release it, unzipping his pants and trying to shove it down while Dante busied himself with her folds. She had to stop what she was doing for a moment when he dipped a finger inside of her, and he stopped bothering her neck so that he could look up and take in the look on her face as she felt something other than herself enter her for the first time.

"Have you ever...?" Dante asked after seeing the slight look of surprise on her face, a strangled gasp leaving her lips as he curled his finger inside of her, rubbing against her walls. The slight shake of her head was enough of an answer, and a smirk graced his features as he added another finger. He began to move them in a slow rhythm while his thumb found a certain bundle of nerves Lee had heard so much about but had never gotten the chance to become... acquainted with.

So this was the first time ever she felt something enter you _at all_. Dante couldn't wipe the grin off his face as he watched her close her eyes and hide her face in his hair. He wouldn't have any of it and used his free hand to cup her chin and push her back so that he could enjoy the view once more. She bit her lip in sudden embarrassment, her face flushing in either that or excitement, as she averted her gaze, only to find herself searching for his gaze again.

As she began to get used to this feeling of his fingers inside of her and his thumb rubbing over her clit, she let go of any restraints she might have had on her body and found that she began to ride his hand as best as she could with her clumsy inexperience. Rocking her hips back and forth, she moaned as Dante pulled out of her and instead concentrated on that nub. It felt as though something inside of her was tightening and she was practically panting. The intense gaze in his blue eyes only seemed to egg her on, and she let out a soft yelp, closing her eyes and throwing her head back, just as she felt something figuratively break - only to feel it disappear all of a sudden. She groaned when she realised what the bastard had done, but she didn't care as she slumped forward, her forehead hitting his shoulder, her breath hot against his skin. He chuckled into her ear and that burning, almost painful feeling returned with vigour, though it had never really left in the first place.

Grasping at his trousers, Lee began to tug them down again and this time he lifted his bottom to help her, shimmying out of them until they were stuck at his knees. Now both their legs were bare and sticking together through the sheet of sweat that had began to cover hers, but most important was the fact that the only thing between _her_ and _him_ was the fabric of his boxers and her panties. With shaking hands, she reached down to pull his down, to return the favour, but Dante's hands stopped her yet again. She was about to glare at him, but by then he had already wrapped her arms back around his neck.

"This one is just for you," he murmured against her lips as he pressed soft kisses to them. Then he used one of his arms to hold her close to him, not allowing her to pull away for any longer than necessary as he used his free hand to push his boxers down just enough to release himself from its prison. "I always thought that women wanted their first time to be romantic, with candles and roses on a proper bed."

"When did you ever look at me and think, 'Yeah, that is one average woman who would totally want her first time to be mundane and cliché!'?"

"Well, perhaps the first few moments I laid eyes upon you? Wait, no, never mind that, as if any woman walking through the door of my office can be considered average."

Once the two of them were done with laughing, she realised that all that was left between the two of them were her underclothes, and all of a sudden she felt rather nervous. She licked her lips and Dante, noticing the sudden change in demeanour, frowned.

"Cold feet? Too bad, you've already passed the point of no return," he said in an attempt to get her to laugh. When it didn't work, he quickly added, "Of course not, you can still say no. I'd be a bit disappointed, yes, but I guess it beats raping you."

Lee shook her head and planted her hands on his cheeks to stare into his eyes. Then she let go and began to play with strands of his hair, embarrassed to speak her mind. Dante didn't mind, he simply waited for her as he littered butterfly kisses over her stomach. A few moments later she hid her head against his neck and she whispered into his skin, "Doesn't the first time hurt?"

Dante with his super-hearing caught it loud and clear anyway, and he couldn't help but smile. How confusing, he had thought that _that_ would be the least of her worries when it came to having sex for the first time. She threw herself in harm's way so often that it almost seemed as though she enjoyed getting hurt.

"So I've heard. But don't worry, though you may have caught the name women usually give to him - the Pussydestroyer - he doesn't _actually_ destroy pussies. I doubt they'd come back for more if that were the case, right?" Dante quipped, almost expecting Lee to punch him for making a joke like that. He didn't expect the small smile on her face, which caused him to raise both his eyebrows. "So what do you say, slow and steady or just get it over with?"

"Just get it over with," she breathed, and moved along as he lifted her up ever so slightly with the arm wrapped around her back while the other reached down so that he could position himself just so.

"Condoms?" he asked before it was too late.

She shook your head and answered, "I take the pill. Hurray for the fear of being raped and impregnated."

Dante frowned at that but decided to address that issue later, or that he just had to be thankful for it, and went back to what he was doing. Lee closed her eyes and bit her lip as she felt him lower her on top of him, surprised by how different it felt from his fingers. She remained silent at the slight pain, glad that that was all. Dante didn't move when she had taken in all of him, though he couldn't help the soft moan that left his throat and reminded her of what the two of them had been doing in the first place. Without waiting for him, she began to rock herself back and forth, not sure what it was that she was supposed to do now. It wasn't as if she had spent the years of her youth watching porn or using other ways to 'research' what the act of having sex actually entailed. If the sound Dante made from her sudden movement was any indication, she had to guess that whatever it was that she was doing was the right thing.

The half-demon beneath her helped her in her movements, meeting the lowering of her hips with soft thrusts of his own. She tried to be quiet, but her breathy moans wouldn't be silenced, even when she pressed her lips against Dante's where she would end up gasping into his mouth whenever he lowered her on top of him. She herself didn't seem to have to do anything since he was probably not even using a fraction of his strength, but she could no longer control her movements as she decided that things were going too slow to her liking. Dante bit her tongue every time she decided to pick up the speed and matched the sounds that she was making with groans of his own, sweat soon covering the two of them, no longer belonging to either one of them but instead being mixed.

As the dance, as one could almost call it, went on, the kisses became sloppier, and Dante forsook Lee's mouth in favour of her neck, her shoulders, her collarbone, her breasts... Anywhere he could latch onto and suck as though his life depended on it. She could only hold onto his back and press her face against his hair, breathing in his scent as he consumed her very being. He realised he had never fucked a virgin before, and that he loved the way she needed his guidance every now and then that he happily gave her in the form of a hot grunt. Somewhere along the line, he had begun to rub a finger against her clit again, both listening and watching as she reacted to the added stimulus.

Every additional thrust helped her reach that sacred destiny until she could no longer hold on. She was practically whimpering as she whispered his name over and over again as she felt herself get closer to whatever lay beyond. Then she let out that cry that had been building up all this time, her mouth desperately clinging to that of Dante as she felt the need to be as close as possible to the man. He swallowed the low moan she let out as she practically burst around him, and he made sure to see the face she made as she came for the very first time. By the time she had finished riding the waves of her orgasm, she was trembling and panting in ecstasy.

Exhaustion from the day suddenly crushed her though she was far from finished, and she slumped against his form, held onto him for dear life. Dante let out a chuckle that almost struck her very core in your moment of weakness as he wrapped his arms around her and held her close. He wanted to lift her off him, but she turned her hips just so that his breath caught in his throat, and he let go of her.

"You must come, too," she whispered into his ear in a husky voice, sending a shiver down his spine.

"Be my guest," he murmured back at her, and she could hear the smile in his voice.

She obliged him and, this time without his help for she held onto his hands, ever so slowly she began to move again. Their fingers entwined, she pressed his hands against the back of the couch while she leaned forward to capture his lips in a sweet kiss, all the while using the strength that remained in her legs to lower herself onto his length. He let out a low moan and tried to lift his hips to meet her, and she let him. She could always take the time to torture him later, after all.

The rhythm remained slow and steady, and though Dante normally would have thought that to be enough to torture him, this time it seemed to add to the raw emotion hanging in the air. When his breath quickened again, she picked up the pace a little to give him what he wanted, tried to keep up with the thrusts of his hips that became faster and more erratic as he came closer to his release. Now it was her turn to watch as he froze and squeezed his eyes shut as he filled her with himself.

When he opened his eyes again, he smiled a lazy smile at her and pulled himself free from her to wrap his arms around her in a hug. The two of them sat there in silence, waiting until their hearts had calmed down and their sweat had dried a little. When at least breathing came more easily to both of them, he carefully lifted her off him.

"We might want to clean ourselves up," he advised, something he didn't have to say twice as Lee quickly, and gingerly, walked over to the stairs to do just that. Dante watched her saunter off, eyeing the slight sway of her hips as she made her way upstairs, her mouth moving as she counted the steps to herself. He shook his head and wondered how he had managed to get this far with someone like her.

Still, there was no denying it. He sighed as he ran a hand through his hair before he relaxed into the couch to stare up at the ceiling. As he did so, he listened to Lee's footsteps as she reached the next floor and made her way to the bathroom upstairs. He was in far deeper than he thought possible. Not just with someone like her, but with anybody in general. He had thought he would grow old by himself, yet here he sat, still half-dressed after popping Lee's cherry, so to speak. And she had made it rather clear that she wasn't interested in short-term things. Well, technically she had made it rather clear that she wasn't interested in _anything_, yet there she was, cleaning herself up after having started just such a thing. But Dante, who normally shied away from such notions when it came to throwing himself at them, found that he felt content. He was looking forward to all the stuff the two of them were going to encounter on this path that one could call 'a relationship'. With all her flaws and quirks, he had just as much problems, yet Lee had accepted him for what he was without a second thought.

After a while, he got up from the sofa and, after completely discarding his trousers and boxers, followed her up the stairs while trying not to make a mess, a smile visible on his face as he did so. She stepped out of the shower just as he entered the bathroom and she gave him a quick peck on his lips before she launched herself onto the bed to get some shuteye. Dante shook his head at the thought of Lee lying spread out on her bed, naked and still smelling of sex, _his_ sex, and came to the conclusion that his girlfriend was a nutter. And perhaps he already loved that about her.

When he entered the bedroom once he had taken a quick shower, he found her already fast asleep on top of the covers. Well at least now they had found a solution to _that_ problem.


	21. Come Undone

**[A/N]: **Merry Christmas everyone! I hope you all are enjoying yourselves, and that you got loads of snow like we in the Netherlands didn't (unless you don't like snow, then I hope you didn't get any). Anyway... *sweats nervously* Sorry for not updating any sooner, I was kind of stuck with this chapter, it kept fighting back. I decided to update this the moment I finished it, so it's much shorter than the others, please forgive me for that. I hope I can regain my bearings in time for next Wednesday...

**[A/N] Jeralee: **great to hear you enjoyed it ;D I was kind of nervous about the lemon, it's been a while since I last wrote one so I felt like an author-virgin all over _

* * *

The next time Lee woke up, a few hours had passed. Shifting slightly on the spot, she stretched her arms out above her. When she opened her eyes, she was greeted by the small grin on Dante's face who was lying next to her on the bed. He had covered the two of them with a blanket, but a quick check told her that the two of them were still naked.

"Regret it yet?" he murmured in a husky voice as he moved closer to her until the tips of their noses were almost touching. Her sleepy eyes met his bright ones and she wondered, firstly, how long exactly she had been asleep and, secondly, whether he had been awake all this time.

Those three words, innocent and harmless with a tinge of humour, managed to cause an avalanche inside her mind. Those three words, tiny snowballs at the top of a snowy hill, began to roll down and took up mass as they neared the valley beneath them. He had asked her if she regretted it yet, and anybody but her would have smiled at once and denied the possibility. She, on the other hand, had to knit her brows together and repeat the question to herself. _Did_ she regret it yet? Now that she had had sex with this man, she felt that she had tied an invisible knot with him, binding them together for the rest of their lives. Though sex wasn't a big deal for many people walking on this planet, Lee had cherished her virginity, had felt proud that she hadn't given in when everyone around her seemed to be obsessed with the act of having sex, being sexy and finding others sexy. She had never even thought of the possibility of being so intimate with anybody, hadn't cared for it. Lying in this bed, naked, next to this man, also naked, she thought back a few hours and knew that, for her, this would be her first and last 'relationship' ever. She would never be able to care for someone, _trust_ someone else as much as she did for Dante...

But still, that didn't answer the question of whether she regretted it or not. She had just admitted that he was important to her. That she trusted him. But how did she feel about tying herself to someone else like that? Was this what love was supposed to be? Did she really love him? Did _he_ really love _you_?

She shook her head in order to force the worrisome thoughts of her mind. By now, Dante was staring at her with a raised eyebrow, humour now mixed with concern. With a wry smile, he commented, "I feel this doesn't bode well for me."

Instead of answering with words, not quite capable of doing so in this moment, she reached out with her arm to punch him on his chest. Without retracting her hand, she opened her fist so that her palm was resting on top of his heart, her fingers splayed across his warm skin. Feeling his heartbeat, strong and steady beneath her digits, seemed to reassure her a little. Strong and steady - just like him.

Dante himself didn't say anything either as he reached up to pull her hand away from his chest. Then he pressed his own against hers, his long, calloused fingers against her smaller, softer ones. He frowned as he stared at them. It was almost as though he were trying to read something in the gesture, trying to gauge Lee's thoughts. He voiced his thoughts not much later. It seemed as if her thoughtful silence had summoned his own musing as well.

"I could snap your fingers in the blink of an eye, without even realising it myself," he began, his eyes never leaving their connected hands. Out of fear of seeing her face as what he said struck home. That she would remember with what she had decided to begin a relationship. He looked like a normal human being and acted like one for most of the time, but he was far from it. It wasn't that unimaginable that she had somehow managed to forgot this somewhat important fact. "Does that not frighten you?"

Lee blinked in response, surprised by his fears. Here she had been, worrying about whether or not she regretted having sex with him because either one of them may not love the other, while he was thinking that she might be _afraid_ of him. It seemed that the two of them had a lot of talking to do. This seemed to be the perfect time to do just that, did it not?

"I..." Her voice trailed off, hesitating for a moment before confessing. Dante's frown deepened and he pulled his hand away, the cold against her palm in the wake of his retreat causing goose bumps to raise on her arm. She realised what kind of impression she was giving him right now and she quickly shook her head, tried to correct her mistake. "No, not that! Never _that!_ I... I..."

Lee stopped again when she saw the expression on his face. He was sceptical. Suspicious, even. He didn't believe her! He thought she was lying to reassure him. Now that just wouldn't do.

Launching herself at him with as much power as she could muster, not caring for her shoulder, she hit him harder than he had expected. The two of them had already been lying on his side of the bed and she could feel his arms wrap around her. He swore under his breath at the feeling of their bodies teetering on the edge, and then the two of them toppled over, hitting the ground below with a loud crash.

As Lee had expected, Dante had made sure that she fell on top of him as his back smacked against the floor. She sat up and decided that she wasn't going to let him recollect his thoughts, instead leaning down again and capturing his lips in a soft kiss. Her heart sank when he didn't react and just let her do as she pleased. At least she could feel his happiness at the fact that the two of them were naked and that she was straddling him pressing against her, but both of them ignored it.

She pulled back a little, mouth still hovering over his while she stared into his eyes, tried to discern his thoughts and emotions in that moment. Unfortunately, he managed to keep his expression as blank as possible, not releasing anything until you clarified your intentions.

"You..." Her hands travelled down his arms, grasping his wrists, pulling them above his head and holding them there. "...are..."

Her tongue found his neck in short licks. "...the last..."

She ground her hips against his, eliciting a groan from him though he tried to hold it back. "...person I fear."

As if to prove her point, she could see his body visibly shake as he wanted to tear his hands from hers, wanted to roll her over and take her once more, and then again, and again, and _again_, until she could no longer walk. Instead, however, he remained her captive, because she knew he would never do anything that could hurt her, that might put her in danger.

"Then why the hesitation?" he finally spoke, his voice low, but not in that husky tone of his. There was nothing sexy about this; only something tender and heartbreaking that made her want to hug the shit out of him.

Here it was, the moment where she told him her true thoughts. If only to reassure him that what he feared wasn't the case.

"Because... we..." Stumbling over her words, she let out a sigh and let go of him. She sat up and reached for the blanket from the bed, wrapped it around herself before she went on. "Because we've had sex, and sex has always been... For me, something as _'just'_ sex doesn't exist. So this is a huge step for me. Such a huge step that has me thinking... What if I don't really love you?"

Silence was all she received from Dante's side, his face once more in that passive mask. Or had it ever left in the first place?

When the quiet made her fidget a little, she decided to fill it with the worst question possible, her mouth not listening as her mind screamed not to do it. "Do _you_ love _me_?"

Dante promptly burst out in laughter, leaving her staring at him in shock. Had her question been so funny? She ran her mind over it a few more times, trying to discern any possible humour in her words.

When he realised that Lee herself were still staring at him as though he were crazy, he coughed a few times, almost choked on his saliva and coughed a few more times before he could look at her with a straight face again. "Oh, so that was an actual question? Sorry."

She felt conflicted. She wasn't sure whether she was supposed to be angry at him, or whether she should feel relieved that at least he was no longer doing any of that self-hatred any longer. If the cost for that was being laughed at, she could live with it. No matter how many times it would take until he no longer felt that need to ever doubt himself like that. She wondered if _that_ was what love was supposed to be like.

Cautiously pulling his hands free from her grasp, always making sure not to hurt her, he pressed his palms against her shoulders to push her back a little so that he could sit up as well. Then he placed his arms behind him so that he was leaning on his elbows as he looked at her. A small smile that made her legs go weak - thankfully she was already sitting down - adorned his face as he mustered his response, though she wished it would have been something different.

"I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but love doesn't come that quick. Or that easy, for that matter. At least not for me. I really can't say anything about what's going on inside of your pretty little head, you'll have to decide that for yourself," he said.

Seeing Lee's passive face at hearing his words, he quickly added, "But don't worry, I have a good feeling about us, if that counts for anything. Your sacrifice does not have to be in vain!"

And having said that, he did not bother waiting for her response as he hooked his arm around her waist and pulled her down, closer to him. Her nose buried itself in the crook of his neck before she could utter any kind of protests. Which might have been a good idea, looking back. Instead of voicing her discomfort about the fact that he had just admitted that he did not love her- _yet_ \- she was forced to remind herself that the two of them had barely known each for a month or something. Much less of said time had been spent as a 'couple', and only now that she had had sex with him was she wondering about love. Had she, just like everyone else, not become a little obsessed with sex in the end, as well? Perhaps it was better not to attach too much emotion to something that others threw around so casually. At least she could still enjoy the warmth this man was encasing her with.

Lee closed her eyes and relaxed. Taking a deep breath, she almost fell asleep... Until she jolted back up, remembering the whole situation she was in. Somehow, she had managed to forget that her sister was still in the hospital.

"Was wondering when you'd remember," Dante murmured, placing a hand on her cheek and tracing her lower lip with his thumb.

"We have to get back."

"Take your time. If anything had changed or happened during our absence, James would have called you, right?"

"But what if-"

Dante smashed her face back into his chest, effectively silencing her once more. He was practically breathing into her ear when he said, "If you don't calm down, I'll be forced to _make_ you do so using a handy little thing called 'an orgasm'..."

Lee's cheeks turned red at what he said, and _how_ he said it, and she had to think back a few hours to when he had given her her first. For a split second she was torn between taking him up on his offer before going to the hospital, but she decided that she had neglected her sister long enough. She should head back now that she wasn't feeling guilty yet for what she had done.

First, however, she wouldn't deny herself a few more moments of warmth as she relaxed on top of her make-shift bed that was Dante. All the while, with her eyes closed for a few moments as she listened to Dante's heartbeat, she wondered since when she had become so comfortable with being so close to someone. Then she asked herself how it was possible that she actually allowed herself to relax for once. Deciding that it was all Dante's fault, though she wasn't quite sure yet whether it was for better or for worse, Lee forced her mind into blankness and simply enjoyed the moment.


	22. Time Bomb

**[A/N]: **Happy New Year everyone! Though it's only about 7.5 hours away for me, I'm guessing most of you will have to wait much longer, seeing as ya'll probably live in America. Have fun and be careful, don't want to start the new year in the hospital or anything, as a certain character of mine has been doing far too often lately (the spending time in a hospital, that is. Who knows where she'll be when the story reaches the 31st/1st, if she hasn't already gotten herself killed by then).

* * *

Just as Dante had predicted, there had been absolutely no change in the situation at the hospital. Which had been kind of obvious from the get-go, seeing as Lee herself were also quite sure that James would have been too hysterical or excited _not_ to call her to inform her of it. She had just considered the worst-case scenario in which he wouldn't call her, as she usually assumed that with many things.

The very moment she opened the door to her sister's room and stepped in, James looked up and narrowed his eyes at her. She noticed that he had probably slept in the meantime; his face had regained some of its colour during their absence. She wanted to open her mouth to greet her companion, but even before Dante had closed the door, James practically yelled, "_Really_?!"

Frozen to the spot, Lee raised an eyebrow at his sudden outburst. Dante came to stand next to her at the side of the bed opposite to the boy, a grin on his face as he nodded his head at James. The latter looked rather confused in that one moment, not sure what he was supposed to feel in this moment. Lee, in the meanwhile, still had no clue what either man was going on about.

"Of all the times you could choose to... It had to be _now_?!" James finally asked, exasperated and gesturing wildly with his hands. It was then that she understood what was going on, and her face turned a lovely shade of red to match her embarrassment, though she tried to hide it behind her hands.

"Men..." she muttered with a shake of her head while said creatures grinned and slapped each other's shoulders in congratulatory gesticulations. To ruin their little moment, Lee asked, just for the sake of saying something, "Any change yet?"

That seemed to dampen to mood at once and James looked down at Anna, a finger reaching out to stroke the pale skin of her arm. He shook his head in response and let out a sigh at the same time. "Nothing yet. But it hasn't gotten any worse, either, so we shouldn't lose hope."

Lee smiled softly as she let her eyes wander over her sister's body, taking in the various cuts and bruises Blondie had given her before Lee had killed him. Her smile disappeared at the thought of that monster, as she remembered for the first time in hours that she still had to take care of Blackie. Even more important than that was the fact that Atlas was still roaming about, though the demon had remained 'indoors' since their last encounter. She had a feeling the Chief actually feared her and wanted to slim the chances of her finding proof for her statement. That he could become paranoid was a good thing, it meant that he had a weakness, that he was afraid. He wasn't out of reach after all.

Dante watched Lee's eyes dart back and forth as the cogs were turning in her head, the guilt for having been inactive for far too long driving her on faster than before. Somehow, he had managed to keep her attention fixated on him, but he knew there wouldn't be a second time. At least not until the next step of her plan had been fulfilled, whatever that might be. Lee looked at him all of a sudden, both of them looking slightly taken aback at the sudden eye contact. He, however, continued to gaze into her orbs while the guilt visible in hers intensified and she looked somewhere else in the room, counting the trees she could see outside through the window.

One was down, two were left. Take the small, unimportant ones out first. Leave the big guy for last. Procrastination? Avoiding the situation? No, genuinely a better idea. Small fries only get in the way when dealing with their leader. As they have already done many times. They made a situation that was already dangerous even more so. All right, with that out of the way: how? Lure him, try to trap him? Ambush? Or seek him out? Use her knowledge of the workplace to her advantage. They'd expect a trap, they'd never think her stupid enough to take the fight to them. Yes.

"Don't even think about it."

Both Lee and James looked up at him in surprise. When James saw that Dante had directed his attention towards Lee, however, he turned to look at her as well. Her gaze meeting his, her plan solidified itself in her mind. She couldn't take him with her, for that would jeopardise his career, and no matter what he would tell her, she wouldn't go against that. Dante, on the other hand, had too much of a reputation to sneak up on the lackey. She felt that the man wasn't quite made for stealth. Or perhaps she wanted to do something about her wounded pride, and her dealing a killing blow to Blondie had made her arrogant.

Dante reached for her chin and yanked her face so that she was looking at him again. His expression was unreadable, though she could discern hints of anger in his posture, in the way his brows were knit together and the dipping of the corners of his mouth. "_No_."

A slight tremor in his voice, unnoticeable to anybody but her. Fear. She relaxed a little. He feared for her safety. Feared she would get herself killed, or almost killed, once again. Indeed, she had been doing so quite a bit lately, hadn't she? But back then he hadn't cared. At least not like this. He would've mourned her death like he mourned that of every other human being whose death he failed to prevent. Now, however, the pain would go much deeper, and though he claimed not to love her... Lee wondered whether he just didn't know it yet.

"All right," she murmured under her breath. She shot him a small smile and felt her heart flutter as the barrier to his emotions broke down and she saw them ebb away, leaving only relief behind.

"Hello?" James interjected, confused. He felt as though he were missing a large part of the conversation, which of course he was, though neither Lee nor Dante felt like updating him. The two of them just shook their heads and decided to switch the topic instead.

"So, James," Dante began rather abruptly, "I see you're doing pretty fine after hearing that demons exist and that your Chief-guy is probably one as well. How are you holding up, kid?"

The diversion-tactic worked. James glanced down at his hand that had never stopped its pattern-drawing on Anna's arm. It was almost as if he were hoping that it would wake her up once it started to get annoying. It didn't seem to be working, though.

"I've had a lot of time to think about it, y'know. While you guys were..." He couldn't help but grin at that. "So it's fine. And I got to see one firsthand, didn't I? If I were delusional to believe it beforehand, I'd only be in denial if I were to think you were lying now... Say, Dante?"

"What's up?" Dante replied as he ran a hand through his hair.

"Where... exactly do you fit into this whole mess?"

The answer he got surprised even Lee. It was more of an oversight on her part, though, seeing as she had never thought to ask him the same question. The way Dante's eyes flickered over to her before he responded should have been enough of a sign for that.

"Let's just say that you weren't the only ones investigating the case. The woman who had my business card that led you to my office got it after she had visited me for help. Claimed she had a bad feeling about going alone at night and that she had heard of Devil May Cry via... someone. Or she had read about it somewhere. Can't really remember. Anyway, I gave her the card so that she could call me if she ever required my assistance, though it seems that plan of hers never quite succeeded," Dante concluded. Before anybody could say anything, he added, "Oh right, and of course there had been that part where I caught wind of some new kind of demon wandering around town that I had to check out for some people."

Lee's mouth fell open at hearing that, and she wasn't sure whether she was to be mad at the devil hunter for not telling her this, or whether she should reprimand herself for not thinking of asking about this any earlier. It must have been his trying to convince her that something that was 'neither animal, nor human' truly existed that had thrown her off balance. Back when demons hadn't existed for her. Funny how so much could change in so little time. She felt calmer than she had in years, despite the fact that she was in more danger than ever. All because of meeting a single man.

She ignored the smug look James was sending her way and she told herself that he had forgotten to question the rather obvious matter of why what seemed to be an ordinary human being had been running after a demon like that. She excluded herself from the group of 'ordinary human beings running afters demons' because it had been her job to do so. She voiced none of her thoughts and instead decided to ask him, "How did you know about... us, anyway?"

His smug look turned into one of laughter when he began to formulate a sentence that was supposed to ask her whether she knew absolutely nothing about sex, and failed, several times. In the end, he gave up and simply replied, "It wasn't difficult. You reek of it."

Shocked, Lee desperately wanted to ask how sex could smell like anything, but with her face once more having turned bright red behind her hands, she did not want to risk looking like an inexperienced, naive teenage girl in front of these men. Scratch that, she_ never_ wanted to look like an inexperienced, naive teenage girl. She dared to throw Dante a look to gauge his reaction, though that ended up being the wrong thing to do.

"Yes, sweetheart. Sex smells. Though thankfully not everyone is as good at smelling it as others are... But it's a great way to claim someone as your own, to be very honest." She frowned at him, realising that this was the first time he had called her by one of his annoying pet names. She had thought he had gotten over that by now. Apparently not.

For the next two or three hours, the three of them sat by Anna's side, waiting for her to wake up, or until someone threw them out. James refused to leave the room, until Dante 'convinced' him to join him downstairs in the hospital cafeteria by dragging him outside. Lee promised to take care of her sister in James's absence, though that mainly consisted of staring at her unmoving body and feeling more guilty with every passing minute.

She lay here, almost _dying_, and James had been practically killing himself by never leaving her side, while Lee had been getting it on with her boyfriend. When it had been her fault in the first place. She shouldn't have gotten everyone involved in this demon-matter. Or perhaps she should have let Dante take care of it all by himself, no matter what her pride had to say about it all.

What would Dante be doing in this situation, anyway, if he hadn't met her? The possibility existed that he wouldn't even have known that Atlas could change into human form, and had managed to worm his way into society as the head of a police department in the city. Though he went along with her 'assumptions' that the Chief and Atlas were the same... thing, she still hadn't produced any hard evidence to convince him. She feared that she wouldn't be able to get him on her side when the time for judgement came, but that just meant that she would have to get him to confront Atlas in his demon-form.

Lee let out a sigh and leaned back in her chair, massaging her shoulder in an attempt to work out the kinks she had worked up over the course of these past few weeks. Though she kept chastising herself about how she had taken a break from her work, she had to admit that her body was grateful for it. On the other hand, with nothing to worry about, she felt even more tired than she normally did, when she simply hadn't the time to dwell on such things.

With a lot of ruckus, the two most important men in her life crashed into the room, the childish grins on their face telling her that they had been up to no good.

"Shush, you'll wake her up," she warned them in a low voice, raising an eyebrow at them when they went along with her and muttered whispered apologies. It took them longer than she would have liked to realise what was going on, bursting out in even more laughter once they did.

Dante and James talked some more about something or other while Lee zoned out once again. When listening to the rhythmic beeping of her sister's heart rate became too much to bear, she got up from her chair, stretching her arms as she did so. Dante let out a low whistle and she shot him a look that told him the next time would be his last.

"Going somewhere, boss?" James asked as he watched her straighten her coat.

She nodded in response and jabbed a thumb over her shoulder in the direction of the door. "Yes, to the toilet, if you don't mind. And perhaps to find something to eat as well. Call me if anything changes, all right?"

The men promised that they'd do just that before they watched her leave the room, closing the door behind her with a soft click. Then she made her way to the elevator, in the opposite direction of the restrooms.


	23. Signs

**[A/N]: **Ayyy another chapter! One day late because it turned out to be much bigger than expected. Ah well, enjoy~ (also, gore, I think. Lots and lots of gore. You've been warned)

* * *

It had begun to snow once more, a thin layer of white covering the rooftops while the last few animals outside scurried and flew about, trying to find a warm place to hide from the cold. It was still rather early in the day and most people lay in their comfy beds, enjoying their holidays and having no where to go, so the streets were practically deserted as Lee made her way towards the building that had given her the stability she had needed all these years. How funny that she had always feared losing that one pillar of security, yet now that she had, she felt like she couldn't care less. After all, something, or rather _someone_, else had taken said pillar's place. Though Lee had normally hated change, despising James when he decided it was time to move his desk to a different spot in his office, this time she felt like embracing it instead. And there was nothing better to celebrate such a thing with than by killing a demon. Or perhaps by getting oneself killed first. It seemed that Lee had also gotten over her fear of uncertainty as well.

The detective rubbed her hands together to fend off the cold, cupping them and blowing into them afterwards to warm them with her breath. When that didn't seem to work, she gave up and hoisted the guitar case she had slung over her back higher onto her shoulder. She had practically raced home to grab her shotgun and stuff it in the bag of which she didn't even remember why she had it in the first place since she had no guitar. She had hoped that she wouldn't take too long, not wanting Dante to follow and find her halfway there. With her many pockets and the case filled with ammo for the shotgun and her pistols, which were in their respective holsters on her belt, and with her knife in her boot, Lee felt that she was adequately equipped to take on this battle.

Or at least, that was what she hoped. She did not quite remember exactly what it had taken to kill Blondie seeing as she had been full of adrenaline and whatnot. In fact, she couldn't remember most of that evening in its totality, save for several flashes of the people around her getting wounded. The only thing that she could remember clear as crystal was the look on Blondie's face when she put a bullet between his eyes: the victorious grin, the crazed look in his eyes... Lee shuddered in an attempt to forget that particular memory.

To distract herself, she went over her plan once more. She knew all the entrances to the building, and knew the Chief's schedule like the back of her hand. She knew every nook and cranny, every place she could hide herself in if need be, knew the locations of every desk and who could be found where. It was still early, so many people wouldn't be there yet, but the Chief had always been one of the first to arrive. Blackie would most likely be stuck to his master's side, but so that nobody would become suspicious, they wouldn't be seen together all the time. Under the guise of working for him on some special project in his office, Blackie would be able to remain close to the Chief most of the time. So when at half past seven Chief would go and get his third cup of coffee, Blackie would be alone in the room for at least fifteen minutes. With Blondie gone, he would be on his guard, but he wouldn't expect anyone to come searching for him. And if he did, then Lee would be prepared, too. Even before having stepped into the building, she had come up with all the possible scenarios that this encounter could go, and had thought of a countermeasure for each and every one of them. If only she had seen the bloody bastard in action more often, she would have been able to implement his habits into her plan, effectively eliminating the small chance of Blackie being able to overpower her which left her feeling rather uncomfortable.

By the time Lee finally reached the office at around seven o'clock, her mind had forced her through every step of her scheme about a dozen times, examining every single aspect twice as often. Just to make sure that she had gotten everything right, that she hadn't forgotten anything, that she hadn't made any mistakes... And even then, she couldn't stop being fidgety and nervous. At least, until she saw the building looming up ahead of her, when her mind became strangely blank and calm.

Up above, she heard a rather late skein of geese fly over, makings lots of noise as she made her way to the entrance that was closest to the Chief's office. She planned on staying close by but out of sight until half an hour had passed by and Lee was sure that Chief had left his room. She wasn't worried about being noticed by one of her ex-colleagues inside; despite having quit, she still had enough reason to drop by, for example to pick up some items she may or may not have forgotten to take with her and that she was coming to pick up. Next to that, James still worked here, and people knew about the relationship between the two of them, had probably exaggerated it as they always did. It wouldn't surprise her if they suspected that there was more between James and her than they let on. Thus, dropping by would only fuel the rumours of some sort of relationship. Whatever made the masses happy.

While waiting for the arrival of the time to act, Lee contemplated one problem she had been pondering over for a while now. Her main weapons of choice were guns, but guns were far too noisy to use in an environment as this, and she wasn't quite sure how effective her fists or a knife could possibly be against a demon. Which meant she was going to have to lure him out, somehow. And where to? Another alley? Why did it seem that this case mostly took place in alleys?

Checking the time once more, she sighed when she saw that she was supposed to make her move now. Oh well, then that meant that she was going to have to improvise a bit, though the thought of that made her stomach turn. But she wasn't going to wait any longer, she had already made a mess of everything by doing just that. She imagined her sister lying in that hospital bed, not dying but not truly alive either, and used the anger that flared inside of her to fuel her determination to go inside and stop doubting herself.

And so Lee did. Crossing the street, pace steady, she made her way towards one of the backdoors that would lead her straight to her destination, the heavy guitar case moving back and forth at her vigour, occasionally slapping her against her back as she went. The snow that had just been laid upon the stones beneath her in a thin layer crunched softly under her boots.

Before she entered the door, she stamped her feet a few times to rid them of the snow sticking to them and checked her pockets, a more extensive one than usual as she also checked her ammo and reminded herself of what ammo was in which pocket. Then, once more, she looked at what time it was to make sure you had gotten it right and finally pushed the door open. Her body flushed at the sudden warmth after standing in the cold for a while, but she ignored it and instead made her way through the plain corridor, trying to use her ears to find out whether anybody was nearby.

All she could discern was the sound of one of the cleaners doing the usual morning round. Other than that, utter silence roamed the building. She doubted that the cleaner knew details about who no longer worked here and what they looked like, so she relaxed a little. The silence meant that she might not have to lure Blackie away after all, but she was still planning on being careful.

Rounding the corner, she saw that the hallway remained empty. There was no sign of life and the sound of the cleaner was still pretty far-off. The second door to her right would be the Chief's office - close to an exit in case the man needed to get out as fast as possible for some reason or other. Before walking over to it, she set her case down and freed her shotgun, after which she loaded it with ammo. Then she went to stand next to the door, trying to make as little noise as possible, and listened. Other than soft rustling of paper inside, she couldn't hear anything. She hoped that meant the Chief had actually left when he was supposed to.

Without giving herself any more time to think this through one last time, Lee reached for the door and swung it open in one, swift movement before stepping into the doorway and aiming her double-barrelled shotgun at the figure inside. To hell with silence and subtlety, she decided in the very last moment. She gave herself no time to ponder since when she had become so fickle, or whether a certain someone had begun to rub off on her.

"Eat this," she muttered, more to herself than to her audience, and she pulled the trigger twice in fast succession, or at least as fast as the device allowed her to.

The noise of the explosions reverberated off the walls, most likely alerting everyone in the near vicinity of the shots and almost deafening her at the same time. Blackie staggered backwards at the impact, a hand shooting up to press against the fresh wounds on his torso. Blood trickled down his fingers as he did so. While the woman busied herself with flipping the gun open to reload, her eyes never leaving his form, he brought his hands to his face to examine the liquid that stained them. Then he looked down at his clothes, watched the red spread, almost with the fascination of a young child.

Lee didn't plan on waiting around and letting him do as he pleased, and so she fired again, and then once more, only to see him take another step back yet remain mostly unscathed. He simply stood there, still not showing any emotions except for that curiosity directed towards his own blood. It seemed as though he hadn't even noted her presence.

Only when she had reloaded her gun one more time and was ready for another round did he look up. She had been breathing heavily due to the adrenaline coursing through her veins and the strain that shooting was putting on her still-wounded shoulder, courtesy of this demon's partner, but when their eyes met, her breath hitched in your throat.

Even from the doorway where Lee was standing the murderous intent was obvious in his dark gaze. _So this is the person who killed him_, was what he must have been thinking. Ignoring the drops of blood sliding down and splattering onto the ground, leaving a trail of crimson behind him, he stalked over to her. A wicked grin spread across his face when he saw her take a step back to compensate for the decreased distance, but he knew it was futile.

Panic blazing inside of her all of a sudden, Lee's trembling hands managed to aim the shotgun and pull the trigger one last time. This only delayed the inevitable, it seemed, for before she could shoot again, Blackie had closed the distance. Pressing her back against the wall opposite of the Chief's office, his bloodied chest touched hers once he had pushed her weapon up so that she was aiming at the ceiling. To her side Lee heard footsteps approaching fast and she knew that it wouldn't be long until they would be surrounded, so she decided to act fast.

However, just as she was about to bring one of her arms up to free herself from the demon's hold, the world around her blurred. She felt the smooth surface behind her turn into a rough one before she saw her surroundings. She shivered from the sudden cold before she noticed she was outside. She became nauseous before she realised she had somehow been teleported to somewhere else.

Blinking in surprise, for a split second Lee forgot the situation she was in. It wasn't until she heard the crash of her shotgun, completely forgotten in her bewilderment, falling to the ground beside her that her body tensed. Blackie held her shoulders in a steel grip, pressing her against the brick wall behind her. That smirk was still visible on his face, and it only grew wider when realisation dawned upon the detective that, somehow, the two of them were now standing in a dark alley. Yet another alley.

Once more attaining a defensive stance, and now with both hands free, Lee didn't wait for him to make the first move. She brought up her arms and smashed her hands, thumbs down, into his elbows, pushing them down and forcing her enemy to come crashing forward. His face smacked against the wall with a painful crunch, but, as expected, he didn't release her. Her next action was to fling her knee up and kick him in the groin, but one of his hands found her leg before she could do any damage to his family jewels.

With nowhere to go and nothing to do just yet, she decided that it would be best to wait and see what he was planning on doing. His face was still against the wall, and he breathed into her ear when she heard him chuckle lowly, giving her goose bumps. When he pulled back, she saw that she still hadn't managed to wipe that grin off his face, but she soon found that she had other things to worry about.

His eyes darkened when he looked at her, lust filling his gaze. Just as she had ascertained this, she felt his hands let go of her shoulder and leg and instead busy themselves with the buttons of her shirt. Feeling taken aback, a voice inside of her screamed that he was going to rape her, that she had to run away, that he was going to kill her. Shortly after, a logical voice spoke up, albeit a bit confused, adding that she had anticipated almost every possible outcome, but _this_ had most certainly not been one of them. Lee herself remained frozen to the spot, not being able to decide what she was supposed to do as fear overrode her system.

The fingers against her bare skin were surprisingly cold and her body shuddered at the touch. He licked his lips as he saw the flesh beneath her shirt and she was just about to scream for help when all of a sudden remembered that she had gotten herself into this mess precisely because she had wanted to prove herself. Because she hadn't wanted to rely on Dante all the time. What kind of girlfriend would she be if she were to always run off by herself, only to need saving?

Lee mentally told her mind to shut up for a second, to calm down and let her think in a calm and rational manner. He was unbuttoning her shirt, and taking his sweet time doing so, because he wanted her. She had no idea whether it was just a coincidence that the moment she was surrounded by demons, be it whole or half ones, everyone seemed to be tripping over themselves to get a piece of her.

"You reek of _him_," Blackie suddenly spat out, as if he were annoyed by this fact.

That put a hole in her newly-born arrogance: so he didn't want her specifically. He simply despised Dante's 'stench' on her and wanted to get rid of it before he killed her. It was only a logical thing to want, after all. But just because she hadn't expected this scenario did not mean that she had to suffer through all of it like a good little victim.

A strangled noise rose into the air, and it took Lee a while to realise that it had erupted from herself in an attempt to moan. An attempt that had gone horribly wrong, though what could she do when her heart was beating against her ribs with such strength that she feared it might beat a hole there, or when her palms were so sweaty that she wondered if she was even capable of holding anything in that moment. She felt sick to the stomach, but still she tried to repeat the same action as before. This time, her hands moved up to his hair, her fingers becoming entwined with the black strands as she pressed the back of her head against the wall in order to hide the fear visible on her face. She closed her eyes and forced herself to imagine that she wasn't in a dark alley, about to be murdered by a demon who first wanted to have sex with her for some absurd reason. Instead, she pictured herself in a dark alley, being pushed against the wall by a certain Devil Hunter who was in desperate need for her but did not have the patience to wait till they got home.

Blackie let out another chuckle before he attacked Lee's bared throat, licking and nipping at the exposed flesh, and she wondered for a moment whether her horrible acting had actually managed to convince him that she was somehow enjoying this as well. To her ears, though, it sounded as though Dante had been the one to laugh, and she was both disturbed and relieved at the same time when she found herself getting turned on. Disturbed, because she was about to be _raped_ by the person she was trying to kill, and relieved because this meant her faking might come over as real. She justified her actions by telling herself that she wasn't exactly planning on going through with the whole thing in the first place. Just until he was distracted enough to strike.

Growing impatient, Da... _Blackie_ pulled back so that he could yank her coat off of her, throwing it somewhere to the side to be forgotten. Then he pushed the material of her shirt to the side, baring her bra and the skin underneath. It became obvious he wasn't planning on making this encounter any more romantic than need be - thankfully - when his hand found her legs and he slipped it between her thighs, pressing up against her as he did so. She had to suck in a breath in order to maintain her calm or otherwise she might have attempted a roundhouse kick on his head. Her body screamed for him to stop as he rubbed up against her, but she shushed it by thinking back to Dante. Only a little more, she only had to do this a little longer, she promised herself. And at least he hadn't tried to kiss her on her mouth yet.

Lee could already feel his excitement through his trousers against her leg, and he growled at the friction she created against it when she shifted herself slightly. She herself wasn't sure whether it had been on purpose or by accident, but it seemed to work anyhow, for Blackie ripped his hand from between her thighs and instead reached for his own pants. He tried to undo the belt that held them up, looking down at it with an angry grumble when it didn't want to cooperate.

The very moment her predator's eyes left her body, Lee's right hand shifted back a little. She lifted her shirt up ever so slightly, but Blackie was too distracted by his blasted belt to pay any attention to what his prey was up to. Before he knew what was going on, the barrel of a gun was pressed to his temple, the cold metal biting into his skin. He managed to blink once in surprise, his lips beginning to form a snarl when Lee pulled the trigger, Dante's added power causing the devil to fly back from his previous position in front of her.

Flipping her other gun out as well, she aimed and fired both at the same time, moving backwards towards what looked like the light at the end of the alley as she did so. Blackie managed to reclaim his balance faster than expected, zigzagging in order to dodge most of her bullets as he made his way back to her. Rage had taken over all his features, and she tried to skip back a few steps to widen the distance between the two of them.

For a while it seemed to work, but then she heard the familiar clicks of empty guns and was a fracture too late to start reloading.

In the moment of silence, Blackie, face now almost completely covered in his own blood, grasped the opportunity presented to him with both hands by dashing towards Lee. Skidding to a halt just before he crashed into her, he set one foot behind himself on the ground before pushing off again and kicking her in the shoulder that Blondie hadn't wounded.

With a yelp, she let her guns clatter to the ground and she was sent spiralling after them, barely catching herself to save her head from smacking against the concrete. She didn't allow the demon to have an advantage over her any longer than necessary, pushing herself off the ground while ignoring the pain that seared through both her shoulders. Thankfully, the adrenaline pumping around inside of her made that easier than it should have been, and before she knew it she was sprinting towards her shotgun that still lay forgotten at the other end of the alley.

Blackie swore under his breath, his wounds making him react slower. She had managed to reach and reload her shotgun before he could catch up with her, and he was greeted by two more bullets burying themselves into his skin. He staggered towards Lee, but she easily dodged his fist that still managed to punch a hole in the bricks where she had been standing. Both of them were breathing heavily, but that didn't mean she was about to give up.

Sweat dribbled into her eye as she pulled her knife out of her boot and stabbed it into the back of his neck before he could turn around to her. Even after all that, he remained as he was, not turning into ash as his friend had done. Lee frowned and asked herself just how much more she had to do for him to die, though the more important question was how long she could hold on. Her arms holding her weapon were beginning to tremble dangerously, and reloading it was turning into quite a hassle. Before she managed to close the gun, she had managed to drop a few bullets to the ground, not daring to bend over to pick them up.

"Why won't you just stay still, you bitch!" Blackie spat at her, practically seething as he turned to look at her. He smirked when he saw her fumble around. The toll this battle was taking on her had become rather obvious, even to his one eye, the other being covered by blood. If it even existed anymore, after having been shot at point blank range.

This knowledge only seemed to energise him, and he stopped caring about Lee's bullets. Instead, he simply stalked over to her, almost challenging her to pull that trigger again. And so she did, but not without one of her knees buckling and crashing to the ground, her shot missing completely.

That was all the time he needed to close the distance between the two of them. This time when he pushed her back, her hold on her gun tightened, just in case. He didn't care about it, didn't even seem to register its existence as he forced her to the ground, straddling her so that she couldn't use her legs to escape. One of his hands had found her neck, still wet from his tongue and still bruised from his friend's grasp, to keep her head still as well.

Hovering above her, blood dripped from his face to hers. Then he bent down, ignoring her weak struggling to free herself, while his free hand went up to the back of his neck in an agonisingly slow manner. He narrowed his eyes and pulled the knife out, an expression of annoyance on his face that made it look like he were pulling a splinter out of his thumb.

He stared at the weapon as he brought it down between the two of them, sliding it along Lee's collar bone, wiping his blood onto her skin. The tip of the knife trailed down to the centre between her breasts, and, once more frozen to the spot and unable to think what she was supposed to do, Lee feared that he would really plunge it into her heart. Later she would realise that that would have been a far too mundane way to end the life of the person who had been endangering their whole plot in a rather irritating manner. No, he'd make her pay, and pay she did.

Her breath came out of tiny puffs, clouds erupting from her mouth every time she managed to gasp for air. Her throat was dry, and she tried to rack her brain for something, _anything_ she could do to turn the tables one last time. She was so close to killing him, she had so much to lose all of a sudden, she couldn't die now! She had issued this fight herself, how embarrassing would it be if she were to lose.

Blackie lifted the knife from her chest bone, still trailing it along her skill in that lazy manner. She felt it move up, back to her collar bone, over her collar bone, up the curve of your neck... It pricked against her cheek but continued to go higher still, and her eyes widened when she realised what he was planning on doing, albeit a bit too late.

He circled her left eye, his lips once more spreading into that vile smirk as he did so. All he said before plunging her own knife into her eye was, "For blowing mine away."

The scream tore itself from her throat even before the pain hit her. When it did, it felt like something was searing through her head as half of her eyesight faded. Tears welled up and slid down her cheeks, mingling with blood, now not just his. Her voice stopped working, though her mouth remained open. Her whole body trembled, but the sudden clarity that came with the pain seemed to dull it all.

The hand still holding her shotgun twitched before she grasped it as tight as she could. Lifting it up ever so slightly from the ground, not needing to aim properly with this closeness and not caring for the recoil, it didn't matter that Blackie tensed at the noise. He looked around, frenzied, trying to find the source of the sound, only to hear an explosion and feel himself be blown off of her.

More blood splattered across Lee's body, but she no longer cared. She watched him roll over, yelling in pain, throwing in unintelligible swearwords here and there, clutching at his side as he began to feel the toll of the battle ravaging his own body as well now. Coughs wracked his body and red liquid poured out of his mouth onto the concrete beneath him, but she had no sympathy left for him. If she ever had any for him in the first place.

Pushing herself up and crawling over to him on her knees, shotgun in tow, she allowed him no more time and quickly brought the butt of the gun to the back of the demon's head. Lifting it up and slamming it down with all the energy that remained in her arms, she repeated the motion until she was sure his brain should have turned into pudding by now. However, she had learned from her previous encounter with a demon that she shouldn't underestimate them when it came to dying.

Pain washed over her again, though less intense this time, and she reached up to rip out the knife that was still present in her eyeball. She yelped and could feel rather than see more blood flowing, but that didn't stop her from stabbing it where it belonged. The insertion elicited another twitch from the broken body before it crumbled and disappeared before her eye.

Lee slumped down a little, finally being able to relax now that the battle was over. Despite the losses, she couldn't help but feel proud. Unburdened, as well, now that she knew that she didn't have to rely on others all the time. It helped to make the sudden fatigue and the throbbing pain in her lost eye bearable.

When she felt that she had been idle for long enough, she ripped the sleeve of her shirt off, wrapping it around her head to function as a makeshift eyepatch. Then, after testing the strength left in her legs, she got up and unsteadily made her way around the alley to collect her pistols, placing them back into their holsters, dusting off the snow of everything as she went.

Her body finally gave out when she tried to reclaim her shotgun, her knees once more buckling. Before she could hit the ground, however, a pair of arms appeared under her arms, holding her up and pressing her against some hard and warm. A sigh escaped her lips when she realised that now everything truly was over.

"I swear, one day, you're going to be the death of me," Dante muttered into Lee's hair before he turned her around and frowned at the damage done to her. All the blood covering her probably made her look worse.

"How did you-"

He draped his coat over her shoulders to provide some cover for her before he lifted her into his arms, just like he had when the two of them had confronted Atlas together. How long ago had that been, anyway? A few days? A few weeks? _Months_? It sure felt like it.

"You think I'm stupid, don't you? I knew the very moment you closed that door behind you. You're not as unpredictable as you'd like."

"Then why-"

"Great, you think I'm an idiot as well. It's obvious that you wouldn't listen to me. You don't want to prove yourself to me, but to yourself, and there's really nothing I can do to help you with that. And I trusted that you wouldn't just get yourself killed, though I might have been wrong on that part. Went ahead and got yourself a lovely eyepatch instead."

His voice and his words were calm, perhaps even humorous, but there was an angry undertone to it. He was pissed, which was understandable. She'd be pissed too. She promised herself that she'd try to listen to him a bit more in the future.

Without thinking, she muttered something under her breath, but when Dante asked her to repeat it she promptly forgot what it was that she had said. Even though he was mad at her, he couldn't help but smirk and shake his head. Telling someone one loved them without realising was probably something only Lee could do, after all.

The knife she left behind.


	24. Always Here

Only when Lee had disappeared behind those doors, lying on a gurney, heavily sedated and being pushed by several nurses, did Dante realise the weight of the final words that she had said. The two of them had spent the journey to the hospital in silence, minds running wild, but now that she was out of reach and possibly never returning again, he wished that he had said something in return after all.

No use worrying about that now, though, Dante decided. So instead, he tried to push the whole ordeal, and most importantly those three words, out of his mind and turned to face a rather stricken-looking James. As if the situation hadn't been bad enough for the poor guy as it was. His head probably hurt from hitting the wall and not taking care of himself in favour of keeping Anna company. To make matters worse, _Lee_, his boss and his close friend, had gone and done something stupid. _Again_.

"Will she be all right?" he asked, a hand reaching out to grip the sleeve of Dante's trench coat, afraid that the man would disappear without answering if he let go.

"That's what they told me. It's supposed to be a pretty easy procedure, the chances of her dying because of this appear to be almost non-existent. Or something like that," the Devil Hunter replied with a slight shrug to get rid of the boy's grip.

James frowned slightly. "You're saying that like they're not just patching her up?"

"Of course I am, she lost her bloody eye!" Dante all but yelled in sudden anger, causing everyone nearby to look up from what they were doing and James took a small step back in surprise.

"She _what_? How? Why?" he stuttered while he gestured wildly with his hands. In the end, as his voice died out, he placed them on top of his head and simply stared at the floor in silence.

Dante didn't answer and he joined the man in his staring. Lee had told him that she had loved him. He decided that, since it came from someone like her, she had been telling him the truth. Not to forget that it had seemed like a spur-of-the-moment-thing, something that she had blurted out without thinking, especially since she hadn't even realised it herself. With nothing to do all of a sudden but think, he had to ask himself whether or not he reciprocated these feelings. Or perhaps the more crucial question was: was it even _smart_ to allow himself to fall in love with someone like her? Would one not be able to see that as a rather self-sabotaging move, considering the way she treated herself, throwing herself into the line of fire whenever she got the chance? But then again, he could have stopped her this time. He had known, after all. Did part of the blame not lie on himself?

He let out a sign and ran a hand through his hair, not knowing what he should do. If he could, he would have run off with his sword in tow, eager to find Atlas and chop the demon's head off. If it weren't for the beast to have suddenly disappeared off the face of the planet, perhaps he would have done so long ago. But that did not mean the core of this problem would disappear with that. Somehow, Dante had the feeling that this disregard for herself was not a new phenomenon. Poor James, having had to put up with all this for far longer. Yet he still hung around as well, didn't he? That had to mean that Lee's company was worth the pain she caused those around her?

When, who knew how much later, James went back to Anna's room, Dante followed him and they were surprised to see that her eyes were open. A nurse hovered above her, saying things to her that neither of them registered, and they joined her at the side of the bed.

"Where..." was all Lee's sister managed to whisper before she had to cough at the dryness in her throat. The nurse offered her a cup with a little water in it, holding it for her as she gingerly sipped at it. The others had already understood her question, however, and did not allow her to repeat it.

"Oh, she's fine!" James quipped, the smile on his face a tad too bright.

"Absolutely fine! Never been better!" Dante added with a vigorous nod.

At hearing that, she smiled and closed her eyes, falling asleep once more.

* * *

Darkness surrounded her. The only indication of her position was a wall beside her which felt rough against the tips of her fingers as she dragged them along with her, trying to find a way out of the gloom. The pain of her hands dimmed in comparison to the throbbing in her head, which made her squint. Not that it made any difference to her capability to see, since there was nothing to see in the first place. In the end, she no longer knew whether her eyes were even open or not.

She bit her lip to hold back a yelp when the wall next to her suddenly disappeared, almost causing her to topple over. Before she could contemplate the wall's vanishing act and find out where it had gone, she noticed a tiny speck of light ahead of her. She frowned, wondering why she hadn't seen it any sooner, but a sound that tore through the air forced her mind to stop dead in its tracks.

It had been a yell.

Another followed soon after, this time accompanied by the sound of a whip cracking and something fleshy being hit. Her heart thundered against her ribcage in a painful manner when she realised whose yell it was.

She broke out into a run in the direction of the light and the noise, but soon found something halting her progress. Looking around, she noted that she was surrounded by liquid, her sprinting having turned into wading without her even realising it. She tried to ignore it, tried not to see the suspiciously red tint the waves around her seemed to have, tried to forget that she suspected it wasn't just water.

Something grasped her leg, holding her back yet again. In the distance, Dante's cries came at an ever faster pace. Her frantic need to help him gave her the power to tear her limb from whatever was holding her, only to force it above water.

Her breath hitched in her throat when she saw a pair of familiar eyes staring up at her in a lifeless manner, frightening her. One of the many Jane Does this case had caused opened her mouth and moved her tongue in an attempt to say something, but all that she managed was a pained moan. Before she could react, another body submerged next to her, this time one of the Johns.

Taking a step back, she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do. Their eyes were begging her to help them, to save them, to bring justice upon their wrongdoer... And in a flash, they were waving their limbs around in rage, their gazes accusing her of not having tried her best, of not having been able to rescue them.

She wanted to apologise, wanted to tell them it wasn't her fault, wanted to tell them that there had been nothing she could have done... But she asked herself, what if it _was_ her fault? She could have worked harder and longer, she could have refused to take any time off until she had caught Atlas. Who knew how many people lay out there, dying, because she had failed to kill it?

And then she had gone ahead and taken the evening off with Dante.

As if on cue, another yell filled the air and she was forced to tear her gaze from the victims before her who were trying their best to reach her through the water, no, the blood, _their_ blood. They were failing at it, almost moving towards her in slow motion, giving her just enough time to make the decision: what was more important?

Dante or her job? The victims to whom she owed it to save their souls? Or the man who managed to make her feel complete, made her enjoy being alive again?

The silence from beyond the light was enough to catch her attention and in that moment she realised that there was no way to make this choice. There _was_ no choice. She could no longer help these people, all she could do was prevent any more from joining them in the afterlife. And she would need Dante to do just that. Whatever came after would have to wait for a while.

The liquid around her gave way as she began to run towards the light once more, leaving the living corpses behind.

When she finally reached the light, panting, it ended up being some sort of portal into what looked like another dimension, this one consisting of nothing but white walls. The brightness forced her to shield her eyes after having been accustomed to the dark. When she dared to take a look at her surroundings, her stomach churned as she saw Dante.

Half-naked and sitting on his knees, his body bent forwards and his head hanging down. His arms were extended into the air as though he were shackled to something, though there didn't seem to be anything holding them up. His breathing sounded raspy and his chest heaved as he tried to suck in as much air as possible.

She rushed over to his side once she took in the many gashes on his back. They were deep and blood poured out of them, and she dared not to touch him in fear of causing the man any pain.

The very moment she sat down next to him, his body sagged against her, spontaneously having been released. She wrapped her arms around his shoulder and held him close, flinching whenever he moaned in pain. Tears were streaming down her face and all she could do was whisper his name over and over again to gain his attention, though he never did look up, as she watched him die a slow and painful death in her hold.

A scream tore itself from Lee's throat and she opened her eyes, or rather her eye, only to be welcomed by a bright room. As if her heart rate hadn't been high enough before awakening, now it seemed to skyrocket at the sight before her. She was still a little sedated, the edges of her vision seeming to blur as she looked to her side, only to see more white.

"D-Dante..." she managed to whisper as she clumsily raised her hand to her arm in order to rip off all the cables that had been attached to her, the alarming beeping noise that followed only making the pain in her head flare all the more.

She threw her legs over the edge of the bed and managed to find a certain amount of balance - at least enough to get her to the door in her state of panic. Her hand found the doorknob but forgot that it had to be turned first in order to open, and so she smacked against the door but wouldn't allow herself to stop and regain her bearings. After a few more attempts, she managed to open it, not closing it behind her as she stepped into the hall. The fact that half of her vision seemed to have disappeared did not bother her in that moment. Neither did the fact that she was most likely wearing one of those horrible hospital gowns that left her backside exposed.

From somewhere down the hall, Dante poked his head out of the door to Anna's room to see what the commotion was about. His brows shot up at the sight of Lee spotting and then racing towards him, panic and fear written all over her face. A couple of nurses were hot on her heels, yelling her name and trying to prevent her from harming herself and those around her, but she ignored all of it.

"Wha-" was all he managed to say before she collided into him, sending both of them falling to the ground.

He had thought about ending it the next time he saw her. He had wanted to explain to her why he worried that all this could never turn into something proper, something healthy. He would have watched her face fall, vowing not to take his harsh words back, and to leave her behind. Or perhaps she would have remained passive, logical even, for he would be speaking the truth and she would know it. She might have nodded, told him she understood, and kept it all inside of her like she usually did.

He had never imagined that the next time he saw her, she would be lying on top of him, breathing heavily and trembling as her hands held onto his coat with as much strength as she could muster in her current situation. He knew that nobody had ever seen her like this before and he doubted that he'd never get to see it a second time, either.

"What happened?" he asked softly, reaching out to pull her gown together so that her dignity wouldn't be completely shattered. And anyway, _he_ was the only one allowed to see her like that.

The nurses turned away as they saw that their patient was in what they might have deemed 'good hands', though two of them kneeled down next to him, trying to pry Lee off with gentle hands. It only managed to make her cling even tighter to the man beneath her, until something seemed to occur to her. She let go of him and checked his body for wounds by pressing her fingers against where she thought they should have been.

"Now I'm not one for proposing doing something less risqué, but don't you think we should continue this somewhere more private?"

Her hands stopped and she looked up, one eye meeting his. Seeing the emotions, which she normally kept hidden, in her gaze without even having to search for them made him frown. What could have happened that had put her on edge like this?

In the end, she nodded before letting the nurses help her up and guide her back to her room. She looked back to make sure that Dante followed as well.

Once in her room, she was forced back onto her bed, neither of the nurses leaving her any room to object. It didn't take them long to reattach her to everything and make sure she was comfortable enough, or as comfortable as she was able to get, to leave her be.

Lee felt the numbness from before crawl back into her body, and accompanied with it was the panic from her nightmare, the images flashing through her mind. She barely managed to lift her arm in Dante's direction. Though it seemed as if he stood at the very end of the room, in reality he had been sitting right next to her and caught her hand in his even before she had been able to move it.

"Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere."

The words seeped into her brain and her eyes closed as she realised what they had meant. Then she nodded and almost didn't feel the soft kiss he pressed to her lips as she fell back into the darkness.


	25. Forget Me Not

**[A/N]: **I've been missing James lately, so he gets quite a part of this chapter 8D Sorry perhaps not sorry for the boring chapter. Not 100% sure yet how to proceed after this. Ah well, we shall see!

* * *

The next time Lee opened her eyes and found the world around her a lot clearer than, she noticed that Dante no longer sat next to her. Instead, James now occupied the chair next to her bed, as he had done far too often she suddenly realised, his head bent as he read some shitty magazine that he had most likely gotten from the hospital's gift shop and which now lay spread out across his lap. His brows were knitted together as his eyes wandered the pages, looking at the pictures but not reading the texts.

When he looked up, his body automatically jerked back so that his back rested against the chair, his posture rigid. She had always told him off for ruining his body by sitting like that, after all, and the sight made her quirk a grin. Funny how it seemed that she had changed so much that his bearing no longer seemed that important to her.

It didn't take long before his eyes, wide in surprise, narrowed at her. He let out an annoyed noise and looked back down at the magazine. This time he read what it said as well, and Lee knew that he was going to remain silent until either she said something, or he finished reading the magazine. It was quite a thick one, too. She wondered how long it would take him, but then she realised that saying nothing would be worse than trying to fix the situation.

After letting out a small sigh, Lee murmured, "I'm sorry."

A slight tremor ran through the page he held between his fingers and his eyes stopped following the sentence he had been reading.

"Sorry? For what?" he asked without looking up, his voice tightly guarded. He sounded so nonchalant, as though he were asking her about what she had been doing last weekend. To Lee, it felt like a warning. She was entering a minefield in which every wrong word spoken could mean the end of their friendship. Well, perhaps not _that_ dangerous, but it would most likely define the tone between the two of them.

"For... For being an idiot," she began, not quite sure how else she was supposed to describe what she had done. Then suddenly it hit her, and she sat up a little while pressing a hand against the bandage covering her eye. "For breaking my promise."

Finally James looked up, the distance he had placed between the two of them disappearing the moment their eyes met. His whole face seemed to soften at her words and she might have noticed his lower lip tremble at the wave of emotions crashing on top of him. It appeared that she had given the correct answer after all.

"You _promised_. You _always_ keep your promises. Boss, you've changed so much these past few weeks, and I'm not sure whether it's been for better or worse yet," he muttered with a shake of his head. He ran a hand through his head with a sigh before he added, "I mean, the last time you ended up here, you freaked out because _I_ got too close to you, but you're already chumming around with Dante and you even allowed those nurses to touch you. And I'm happy for you about that, I'm glad that you're coming out of your shell, or whatever you want to call it. But if all the improvements are going to bring about things like breaking your promises... You've never been predictable or anything, but for you to actually go against your own word?"

Lee held up a hand before the man could continue his rant, and he fell silent. Then she turned it so that the back of her hand was facing him and she bent her fingers a few times to signal him to come closer. With a confused look on his face he obliged, getting up from his chair and moving over to sit next to her on the bed, where she made sure that he had enough space. He opened his mouth to ask her what she was planning on doing but she cut him off by wrapping her arms around his shoulders and pulling him close to her.

"W-what are you doing?" James stuttered as she felt him freeze beneath her touch. He didn't dare move, tried his best not to relax and take in a deep breath of her scent, as he had wanted to do since the very moment he became intertwined in a complex friendship with her.

"You know damn well what this is, and I know damn well that you've always wanted this. I also know that you're jealous of Dante." The boy in her arms gulped at hearing that. "Don't try to deny it. Now don't make me say the bloody word and just enjoy it, because you _damn well_ know it's never going to happen again."

"Ever?"

"Ever."

Her friend sighed once more before he finally allowed himself to relax and take in that deep breath. Lee couldn't help but smile as he buried his nose in the crook of her neck, snaked his arms around her waist and crushed her to his chest - at least with as much strength as he dared to use on her right now.

"You know, I've missed you," he mumbled after a few moments of silence without pulling away from her.

"You mean me in general or the old me?" Lee retorted, though she was really just trying to hide her embarrassment at the situation she found herself in.

"You know damn well what I mean," James replied as he mimicked her tone. Lee grumbled something incoherent in response.

In that very moment, the door opened and a head of white hair appeared. Blue eyes widened in mock surprise as they met Lee's gaze, eyebrows disappearing under a white fringe.

"I leave you alone for ten minutes and you've woken up and begun cheating on me already?!" Dante yelled. Then he threw his hands into the air, turned around and walked back out of the room, all the while muttering something under his breath. He didn't manage to hide his smile from Lee.

With the magic of the moment having been interrupted, Lee pulled back from James and he reluctantly went to sit back on his chair once more.

"The reason why I broke the promise was... Well, it was partly because of Dante. You know about demons and all that now, but I've known it since the first time I was hospitalised." James's eyes widened in shock and he opened his mouth to exclaim something, but she held up a finger to silence him before continuing. "I guess I hadn't come to terms with it all yet, and especially since I didn't seem to be able to do anything to them. Dante kept having to save me, after all, and you know how much I hate not being in control..."

"You had to prove yourself? But to whom? To me? To Dante?" James asked, confused. "I doubt he minds. It's what he does, anyway. Before you ask, yes, we talked quite a lot while you were out, seeing as we didn't really have anything else to do."

Lee shrugged in response. "I know he wouldn't have minded. But _I _minded. I had to do it for myself. I don't even know why, exactly. Just believe me that I feel a lot better now and this time I _swear_ I won't do anything like that again."

At hearing that, James began to beam. Before his bubble of happiness could get too big, however, she quickly added, "At least not without Dante."

"Ugh," was all James said in response, sighing and hanging his head. "Should've known."

All Lee could do was give him a sympathetic pet him on the back, which seemed to cheer him up a little. Neither of them were sure what to say afterwards, and Lee was certain that a rift had grown between the two of them, despite her attempts to hinder it. It would take a while for things to settle, but she also knew that, somehow, they'd make it work.

As if reading her thoughts, James spoke his in a soft tone. "Do you think things will ever go back to normal?"

Sitting back, Lee stared at the ceiling, her eye wandering across the surface as her mind was filled with the amount of spots she could count while she tried to figure out a response.

"Were things ever actually normal? I mean, you've had a lot of time to think, so you must have come up with a few scenarios about the Chief as well. Did he replace the old one, or has he been what he is all this time?" James shrugged and diverted his gaze to the ground.

"Whatever happens from this point on, I'll make sure that at least that demon is wiped off the face of this planet. With the Chief gone, who knows what will happen at the office, if I'll get my job back. If I even _want_ it back."

The man next to her looked up in horror and Lee shot him an apologetic look.

"You saw those... _things_. I don't even want to think about what they're capable of when they go all out. And there are many more out there, probably even more powerful than these were. And Dante seems to be the only one, or one of the few, who is actually out there, trying to fight those monsters. Somehow, catching murderers and arresting thieves seems rather petty and useless all of a sudden."

"Are you trying to tell me you're thinking of quitting?" James asked, his shock from moments before having been replaced by a mixture of understanding and the remains of his hope.

Lee neither shook her head nor nodded, and she kept her face passive, trying not to betray her thoughts through her body language. In the end, not knowing what else she could say without disappointing the boy, she shrugged and replied, "Who knows."

That seemed to satisfy him, and he nodded before the two of them settled down into a companionable silence. James began to flip through his magazine once more while Lee went back to counting the spots on the ceiling, feeling better now that she had at least cleared part of the trouble.

Things had changed and the two of them were going to have a lot of adapting to do, but at least they still had each other.

* * *

Not much later, James went back to check on Anna. It almost felt as though Lee and her sister had gotten a divorce, and James was the poor kid who had to switch between parents every week or so. He had had a guilty look in his eyes when he had announced that he was leaving, probably arguing with himself about how Lee was awake but her sister wasn't. His argument had been put to a stop when Dante had barged into the room and taken James's chair from him, shooing him out of the room with no option to protest. It seemed today was full of people who were expecting a whole declaration from Lee about why she had done what she had done. But then again, they deserved it and she owed them whatever they wanted from her.

"Doc said that you'll probably be free to go tomorrow. Something about only keeping you here to make sure that something with the wound on your eye not happening. Or something like that," Dante said without waiting for Lee to greet him.

Lee nodded her thanks and shifted back up so that she was in a sitting position again, this time sitting cross-legged. She wanted to ask him a question, one that had been on her mind since waking, but she wasn't sure how she was supposed to word it. Even in the state she had been, when she had ran into him after waking for the first time, she had seen the flicker of doubt in his eyes. It hadn't been difficult to think of what it could have meant, especially after her stunt, and she feared whether bringing it up now would only make his hesitation at the decision disappear.

Seeing the serious look on Dante's face, however, pushed her to voice her thoughts anyway. Who knew what would happen if she didn't.

"Are you..." Lee began, but found that her mouth was failing her. "Do you... God damn it all." She covered her face with her hands, nails digging into the skin of her forehead as she told herself to get a grip. Why did her heart give that painful squeeze whenever she wanted to say the words?

_End it. _

_Are you going to end it? _

_Do you want to end it?_

Yes, he was thinking about it, she knew that much. And she knew why. It didn't matter that she felt like begging him to stay with her, that she had already opened herself up too wide for him to let her fall now. Even though she knew it would have been her own fault in the first place.

A sigh pulled her out of her train of thoughts, making her look up from behind her hands that had turned to fists somewhere along the way. The serious look was still there, but it seemed less reluctant. He had made up his mind, whatever that might mean.

"I told you that I won't be going anywhere, didn't I? I'm in far too deep, anyway. If you hadn't said those words, I might have left already," he muttered while reaching out for Lee's wrists to free her face. He stared right into her eyes, those blue eyes that had managed to make her blush in the past and that still made her heart race in her chest.

Frowning, she asked him, "What words?"

Dante smiled a knowing smile and shook his head. She knew she wasn't going to get anything out of him no matter how she pushed, so she let it go. She had a feeling she'd find out soon enough, anyway.

"But you had been planning on leaving? Because I... Because I'm reckless, right? I get it, you know. I used to wonder the same thing about James, why he would stay by my side even though I treat him like shit, and I treat myself even worse. But he was too stupid to think for himself, so he never thought about leaving. You, on the other hand... I'm going to have to change, aren't I?"

The half-demon bent forward and surprised her by pressing his lips to her forehead, which still sported slight imprints from her nails. "But you've already changed, haven't you?"

Had she? She had agreed with James when he had talked about it with her, but was it actually true? Had she really changed? She thought back to how she had wondered about how she could have taken a break from her work so easily. And that horrible dream, in which she had chosen Dante. She had given James his first hug ever, too. Was it not true, then? Why was everything about change today, anyway?

Dante tapped a finger to her head, grinning as he did so. "Has anybody ever told you that you think too much? Just believe me when I tell you that, since meeting you, you've changed. And I'll just add that it's been for the better. Now if you can just keep yourself out of trouble, at least when I'm not around, that would be just grand."

Slowly, Lee nodded. She still wasn't quite sure about all of this, just as she hadn't been sure with James. Still wasn't. But they'd all manage, somehow. For now, however, she was content with the way things were.

At least now she had a reason to buy an eyepatch. She had always thought that those things added to one's personality.

In a sudden burst of, well, she wasn't quite sure yet, Lee reached up and grabbed Dante's arm that he had used to flick her head and hadn't retracted yet. She pulled him towards her and he startled a little as she pressed her lips to his. The machine that was keeping track of her heartbeat went crazy as their tongues moved against each other.

Without breaking the kiss, she freed her body of the device and ignored the flatline that filled the air instead.


	26. Ripped Up & Torn Down

**[A/N]: **SORRY! For the late update. Holy crap it's been weeks. Let's just say that a new quadmester has started and brought a shitton of homework with it. Anyway, as a heads-up, my dearly beloved squirrel-friend will be returning in this chapter. Most of that is random randomness meant to please one of my best friends. Please forgive me for that. And don't ask me about this ending. I wasn't planning on doing anything like this, but my fingers did this weird thing where they wouldn't listen to me and did whatever they wanted. Hence its suddenness. I fear it might be a technique of my body to drag this story out, or something. Whoops. Aaaanyway, enjoy~!

* * *

"Say, how did you find me in the first place?" Lee asked Dante as the two of them stood outside of the hospital. She held a cigarette, which the Devil Hunter eyed in dismay, between two fingers, blowing out some smoke while she took in the impressive amount of snow that had fallen all around them.

She had promised that she wouldn't throw herself into any more dangerous situations, so she had to find another outlet for her frustrations, right? They couldn't just take everything away from her. Thus she had picked up an old habit, though she had always hoped she wouldn't fall back on it: smoking. Oh well, life sucked and then one died. You only live once, that kind of thing, yeah? What did the kids these days call it? YOLO or some sort nonsense like that?

"I have my ways," Dante replied, nonchalantly running a hand through his hair and flashing her a dashing smile. "You wouldn't believe me anyway."

"Try me."

The white-haired man opened his mouth to respond, but the moment was interrupted when something jumped on Lee's shoulder. Raising an eyebrow at the sudden pressure, she turned her head to look at whatever now occupied her arm, only to take a startled step back.

With her cigarette held between its paws, that squirrel from her garden sat on her shoulder, sniffing at the filter with what seemed to be a look of pleasure on its face. For some odd reason it wore a miniature fedora with a feather on its head and it gave her a look of disapproval. Then it hurled itself at Dante's shoulder, and once perched on top of it, began to squeak something in his ear. In the meantime, Lee's fingers twitched for another stick, since she couldn't just go on with her day without at least _finishing_ one.

"I'd like to introduce you to my messenger. The one who told me your location," Dante explained. The grin on his face told her that he was enjoying this far too much. "It wants me to tell you that smoking is bad and that you should stop as soon as possible. It is willing to sacrifice its health for you, so if you'd be so kind as to hand over all your cancer sticks..."

Lee glowered at the animal, shaking her head as she stuck a second one between her lips and lit it. "It took my sandwich and my cigarette. What more does it want?"

"Well, the rest of your cigarettes, obviously." More squeaking in Dante's ear. "And a car. Wait, what do you need a car for?"

More squeaking.

Dante nodded in understanding as he rubbed his chin. "Ah yeah, that's understandable."

"I think I may have hit my head somewhere," the detective muttered to herself while rubbing her face, trying her best to avoid the bandage around her eye. "So is this the infamous demon in squirrel-form or what?"

"Well... Not exactly _infamous_-" The squirrel hit him with its newly-acquired cigarette. "Hey, I'm not going to-" Another smack. "Fine, _very_ infamous. Happy now?"

It gave a nod before bouncing back to Lee's shoulder to snatch her second fag. Now with one in each hand, it let itself drop to the ground, where it promptly tried to shove them both into its mouth.

"Quite the appetite, it seems," Dante remarked, his tone dry. Lee could only stare down at the beast, her mouth still open from where a cigarette had been only moments ago.

The squirrel made a few more conversational noises at Dante, nodded its thanks to Lee and dashed off, climbing up the nearest tree it could find. The two of them watched it leave in silence, and Lee heaved a sigh of relief once it had passed out of sight. The moment it did, a third cigarette found its way to her mouth. She was _not_ going back in before she had had one, complete smoke.

"So what did it say? I presume that, since it's your messenger and all that, it had something important to say?" Dante opened his mouth to answer but she quickly added, "Something a little more important than a _car_, perhaps?"

He closed his mouth again. A thoughtful look crossed his face, and Lee raised a questioning eyebrow as she waited for him to speak his mind. He didn't, however, and instead he reached up to snatch the stick from between her lips, dropping it to the ground and stomping on it with his boot.

"W-what did you do that for?!" she yelled, perplexed. She stared at the scrunched up butt on the ground, her fingers twitching once more, but this time because she wanted to shoot the bloody half-demon. Again.

"All that smoke, it was pissing me off." Dante lifted his shoulders in a shrug, his expression the epitome of innocence all of a sudden. "You can go ahead and ruin your own health, but don't drag me down with ya."

"You could have just told me that!" In revenge, Lee pulled out her fourth cigarette and was about to put it where it belonged when Dante caught her wrist.

"Does James know that you're smoking?"

"It's not like James is the boss of me. I can still do whatever I want."

"What the hell are you guys doing?" came James's voice from somewhere to the side.

Dante let go of you so that he could point an accusing finger in Lee's direction. The moment she was released, she lit the fag and inhaled deeply, shooting a challenging look towards the man.

James glanced at her before stepping out from under the doorway to bask in some natural light for the first time since getting there. "At least she's not going out of her way to fight monsters. I'm guessing the chance to die from an encounter with a demon is slightly higher than dying from smoking."

His friend nodded her head in agreement, crossed her arms over her chest and watched in inner glee as Dante sighed before holding his hands up in defeat.

"Point taken," he muttered.

A visible shiver ran down James's spine before he wrapped his arms around himself. "Never mind this. I don't need any fresh air anyway, and it's far too cold. Damned nurses trying to get me away all the time."

Before others could react, the boy had already sauntered back inside, all the while mumbling something about how it had looked warmer outside than it really was. Dante glanced at Lee and, eyes meeting hers, shrugged.

"To be fair, he _had_ forgotten to put on a coat," he commented, and she nodded in agreement.

A comfortable silence settled over them. Lee held her head high, watching the clouds roll by as she continued to smoke while Dante moved to her side. His warmth managed to reach her through both his and her own coat, and for a split second she had to force herself not to take a step away from him. Old habits die hard, after all.

"So..." he began as he lifted an arm to rub the back of his head. Lee turned away from the sky to look at him in surprise. Who would have thought that Dante would be at a loss for words for once? "What actually happened with that guy, before I arrived?"

"What? Why?" the detective asked, her brows knitting together at the sudden question. There was no stopping the tremor that slipped past her guard at the thought of what might have happened if she hadn't been able to fight back. The slight narrowing of his eyes indicated that it hadn't gone unnoticed.

"Well, you were practically half-naked when I caught you. Doesn't seem like something that would happen by accident, if you ask me. 'Whoops, my coat just fell off', 'oh darn the buttons of my shirt just undid themselves', that kinda shit."

He already knew the answer to that. Why would he ask something he already knew? It was when she looked at his face once more when she realised that he simply hoped that he had been wrong, that he had come to a hasty conclusion.

"Dante..." she mumbled. Without thinking, she placed a palm against his stubbled cheek, surprising both of them.

He raised his arm and wrapped his fingers around her wrist, pulling it to the side so that he could plant a kiss on her skin. As he did so, he lowered his eyes in order to break the contact.

"Then what about that fear of yours?" he continued. He was pretty adamant in getting her confession, or so it seemed.

Lee shrugged in response. "After I began to work for the police, I could hear only so much about rape victims and the possible consequences before I became paranoid. And mind you, since I've started carrying a gun around, it's gotten much better. Actually, the pill is really the only thing left."

Dante had no idea how he should react to that. She had said it in such a light tone, as though she had been joking. The content wanted him to travel into the past and give the younger version of her a well-deserved hug. Though she most likely would have shot him before he could even begin to explain.

"And, well..." she began again, her gaze following the cigarette as she dropped it to the ground before squishing it with her shoe. "I wasn't exactly in a situation to hope you were going to save me. As always."

"Happy to be of service," the half-demon replied as he gave a theatrical bow, a grin plastered on his face. He was relieved to see her fighting back a smile of her own. Serious talks weren't his thing, but even so, he had wanted to know for sure. Now all he could do was make sure she wouldn't find herself in any similar situations in the future.

* * *

A few hours later, all three of them had practically been thrown out of the hospital, since none of them required any more medical attention. James had tried clawing his way back in, but in the end he had given up and had gone back home for the first time in days to take that shower he should have had ages ago. Lee had planned on doing the same at her house, and Dante had insisted on joining her.

That was why he currently lounged on her couch, arms behind his head and his legs crossed as he watched her vacuum the living room. The last time she had been in this room, the two of them had been rather... busy, so she hadn't had the opportunity to take in the mess left behind from the fight on Christmas Eve. Had almost sent her right back to the hospital with a heart attack, it had. Her precious saloon table had been destroyed and blood stained your carpet. She had almost felt like crying; buying new furniture was hell for someone like her.

"Ah, you missed a spot," Dante called out from his seat, even though his eyes were closed.

Lee grumbled something under her breath, something about strangling the man next time she had the opportunity to do so, which only elicited more annoying sounds from him. He shook his head while tut-tutting.

"I'm only doing this for your own good. Wouldn't want you thinking you were done only to find said cursed spot a while later, now would we?"

In response, Lee lifted the nozzle of the vacuum cleaner and dropped it on Dante's shirt.

"Hey!" he shouted as he pulled himself free. Thankfully the loud noise of the cleaner covered the snort she wasn't able to hold back.

"Ass."

"Hey, I like to believe that I have a fine as hell derrière, if I may say so myself."

She turned the vacuum cleaner off and raised an eyebrow at his claim. He mirrored her look. "Just because you haven't witnessed it yet doesn't give you the right to deny it."

He threw in a sly wink, causing her to drop everything she was doing. Before either of them knew it, they were lying on her bed upstairs, naked, in the blink of an eye. In the meanwhile, Lee had folded her discarded clothes into a neat stack, and had confirmed Dante's statement about his butt. Now she sat on top of his stomach, marvelling at the smoothness of his skin, while he traced a finger along the bandages she had collected since starting this whole ordeal, a frown marring his face as he did so.

The first wound, the 'sickle' wound, still had a little healing to do, though Lee only covered it with simple adhesive dressing. A nasty scar would always remain, however. Then the cut from the bullet that had scratched her, of which only a red mark was visible. Though it had bled like a bitch, the injury itself hadn't been that bad. Then, next to the obvious bandage covering her eye, her forehead adorned a few crusts covering nasty-looking gashes.

He felt her flinch when his fingertips touched the bruise on her neck before he lowered his gaze to the marks that looked like long nails had left them behind. Another bruise had bloomed across her other shoulder, obviously where a boot had been planted.

Next to all those, his touch had wandered over old scars as well. He had found the places where bullets were still buried inside of her, their scars marking her body like hidden treasures on a map. One only had to follow the chart to get to the valuables. Other blemishes remained as well, though those Dante couldn't identify and she didn't seem willing to explain.

"Never thought you'd be able to sit here with me like this and not think about sex," Lee remarked, her voice a whisper as she bent down to rest her head on his chest.

Dante scoffed. "You believe everything is about sex with me, don't you?"

That got him a raised eyebrow, and, with a grin on his face, he held his hands up. Lee ignored him and heaved a sigh instead while she continued to trail a finger down his stomach.

"'Sup?"

Lee hesitated for a moment. "I guess I still haven't completely wrapped my head around... well, around you."

Dante remained silent, waiting for her to elaborate. When it became obvious she wasn't planning on doing so, he asked, "What are you talking about?"

"It's like this is some sick joke. I'm always looking at you, thinking that the scars and wounds you're supposed to have will appear out of no where. But they don't. They never will. Yet still I can't help but be confused about it all." And afraid, but she didn't add that. She didn't want him thinking she feared him. Though slowly but surely, a feeling of dread was creeping up on her, like a shadow that kept lengthening the more the sun set.

Was it possible for him to lose complete control over himself? What if it ever did happen? She had seen, and tried to forget, how he had seemed to transform before her very eyes when Blondie had attacked her house. For a while it had worked, but then suddenly the thoughts had returned with a vengeance. Dante had thought about leaving her, and he had had valid reasons for doing so, but she herself wasn't in a much better situation either.

Were the two of them really supposed to be together? Would it turn out all right, somehow? Even if she grew to love him, and he her, would that be enough for when such a moment might arrive where both of them would be put to the test?

While stuck in her thoughts, Lee hadn't noticed that Dante had gotten up on his elbows, staring down at her face with a frown. She was only pulled out of her reverie when he gently pushed her off of him and got up, before gathering his clothes and starting to put them on. All the while she stared at him, confused.

"You know," he began just as he pulled his pants up, "I ain't gonna force this on you. You have just as much right to bail as I do, if it's too much for you, or if you're not ready or some such bullshit."

Words laced with a sour tone made it rather apparent that her attempt to disguise her worries had failed. She had a feeling that this could be counted as her first 'fight' with him, her first quarrel with a boyfriend, and all she could do was sit on her bed feeling slightly aghast. Where had her sharp tongue run off to all of a sudden?

He took his time finding his shirt, waiting for her to say something. Or giving her the chance to do so, but not actually expecting anything.

And she didn't. For the first time in far too long, her mind remained uncharacteristically blank. She opened her mouth several times, in the hope that she'd blurt out something, _anything_, reassuring, but her tongue remained numb.

It wasn't until she heard the door downstairs close with dreadful finality that her mind came back on track. All the things she should have said came pouring out of her, disguised as tears.


	27. Unwanted

**[A/N]: **wait, what. My fingers went and did it again. Oh well, here's another chapter. Enjoy!

* * *

Once Dante had left, at first Lee just sat there, staring off into the distance. All the while she had ignored the tears that were soiling her face. Somewhere in the back of her mind, a voice had asked whether she was even allowed to cry, with the lack of one of her eyes and the recent surgery. Though it hadn't looked like her tear ducts cared all that much about it.

In contrast to the strange blankness of a few moments ago, her mind had been a whirlwind of thoughts, and she hadn't even been able to register anything that had gone through her head. It had taken her perhaps fifteen minutes, perhaps half an hour, to pull herself together and get dressed while trying her best to reassure herself.

Everything would be all right. She hadn't gone through all that effort of opening up for nothing. Things weren't going to change again. He had left her on her own so that she could think this through; his move had in no way meant to make her think that he was actually leaving her. Though she might have preferred that he had stayed, so that the two of them could talk things through together, she knew that him reassuring her and telling her that he wouldn't ever hurt her would never put a permanent end to this worry. Somehow, however, she had a feeling that this would remain with her for the rest of her life.

Relationship obsessions, also known as ROCD. That's what they were known as. It wouldn't have surprised her if, with her neurotic personality, she could add this trait to her list of flaws. Though while normal people, if that's what one could call them, would ponder about the fact whether or not they loved their significant other, Lee would always fear the moment Dante's demon side would break out and wreak havoc.

This is what she repeated in her mind as she made her way to James's apartment, taking care not touch the cracks on the ground; she had already had to start the trip over a couple of times because of that. She had to go by foot because she had forgotten that her car had found its new home with the fishes. Next time she had a free moment, once she had put this whole case behind her, she would buy a new car.

And anyway, James's home happened to be rather close to hers. It was situated closer to the office, too. That had made it all the worse whenever he had managed to show up late for work, hair and clothes dishevelled.

Lee rarely visited the boy's house, since he always preferred to meet up either somewhere in public or at her place. Mainly because he didn't want to seem inconsiderate since he practically lived in a pig sty. Thinking back to that first time she had ever set foot in his home still managed to make her shiver.

But this time she wasn't going to visit him to question his sanity.

"Holy _fuck_!"

At least, she hadn't planned on doing so.

James, his hair still wet from showering, all but hid behind the door as he scratched the back of his head. "Well, you see, I haven't been home in a while, as you might have guessed, and I swear I was busy cleaning, but then I found this photo album and..."

His voice trailed off when he noticed his friend's lack of reaction. Daring a look in her direction, he saw that she was still staring, no, _gaping_, at what lay before her.

Pants, shirts, ties and socks had been slung all over the place. The TV screen had somehow managed to catch a pair of boxers on one of its corners. The coffee table couldn't be seen under the pile of magazines and books scattered across its surface, its sides buried by stacks of DVDs. In what you could see of the kitchen, you noted rows of soda and beer bottles, what you could only presume were leftovers, and plastic wrappings on the counter. Dirty dishes filled the sink. The door to James's bedroom stood open, but Lee dared not look inside for fear of whatever she might find.

When her gaze had gone round the apartment a couple of times, it came to rest on James again. By now he sported an expression that almost seemed hopeful. She narrowed her visible eye at him before pulling off her coat and dumping it on top of the man's head.

"You're going to be the death of me," she muttered as she rolled up her sleeves and began to work.

James could only agree with her. He hung her coat on a rack that stood beside the door he had just closed and went to help her, following her to the kitchen where she had begun to fill the basin with hot water and dish soap.

Lee rinsed the dishes and utensils while he dried them off and put them where they belonged, and for a while both of them remained silent.

"So," James began once he realised she wasn't going to start the conversation, "I'm guessing you didn't come over because your 'cleaning senses' were tingling, right?"

The sloshing of water stopped for a moment before it returned with a vengeance. The detective scrubbed until her arms trembled and she handed him the next plate to dry. James shot her an inquiring look, but when it seemed that she wasn't planning on replying, he shrugged and continued doing his job.

A few vigorously-cleaned dishes later, Lee let her hands relax in the water. She leant forward on her elbows and hung her head so that she could stare at the bubbles beneath her.

"Boss?"

"How long has this between you and my sister been going on?" Lee countered. The abruptness of her question almost made him drop what he was holding.

"W-what are you talking about, boss?"

"That's right. I'm your boss, and you know why. So stop acting as though I were an idiot and just answer the bloody question."

James looked down for a few seconds. He scratched his forehead, leaving behind a few soap bubbles on his temple. "Uhm, well... For a while now? I guess?"

"And what are you going to do if she'll never get better? She might not die, but she might as well be paralysed. Maybe even worse. She might be a vegetable, she might stay like this forever. What then?"

Lee resumed the cleaning once more, and this time it was James who kept his mouth shut for a while. She had almost finished when he surprised her with an answer.

"It doesn't matter what will happen to her, because I... I'll always be by her side. I don't care about what the future might hold, as long as I know that I'll be able to share it with her. Her burdens, they'll be mine to bear as well, and together- together we'll be able to get through it all, somehow." He looked up from his towel all of a sudden and grinned at his companion. "Because I love her, okay?"

Lee stared at him before smiling as well. His cheeks had flushed in embarrassment, and she couldn't help herself. She reached out and pressed her soppy fingers against his nose, leaving more foam behind. Having finished the rest of the dishes, she dried her hands so that she could begin gathering the clothes that lay scattered about.

James dried his face off before joining her in her collecting. "Well? Did I pass the test?"

Surprised, Lee raised an eyebrow at his question, only to realise that her sudden interrogation could be interpreted as such. She let out a laugh and nodded. "With flying colours."

Now it was James's turn to look confused, but he didn't linger much longer on the topic and simply shrugged. He went on stacking dirty clothes over his arms to put away.

"Why did you really come here today?" he asked once most of his clothes had disappeared and the carpet that had been underneath the layer had become visible again. "And don't act like I'm stupid, either. I like to think that I've actually learned quite a lot from you, so I know that you're not here just to ask me about your sister and I. Did something happen with Dante?"

Lee sighed and ran a hand through her hair. Leaving the clothes for what they were, she moved on to the stack of books and DVDs. Then she began to place them back on their shelves in alphabetical order before opening her mouth. "You know that he's..."

When she didn't finish her sentence, James offered her some help. "Not completely human?"

"Right. And I can't help but wonder if there's more to it than what I know. He is far stronger and faster than humans, and perhaps even than demons, but he most likely has to exercise a great deal of control over his body. It's like he almost loathes himself for that side of him, and I try not to make it worse, but..."

James disappeared into the small washing room nearby to get rid of his clothes for now.

"But?" he asked when he returned and she still hadn't continued.

"What if something _does_ happen? If he loses control over himself? What then?"

"How do you even know anything like that will ever happen?"

"I don't. But _what if_?"

The boy shook his head with a smile on his face. "I always thought that the moment you'd actually open up to me would be a triumphant one. Now I see it's not as interesting in that head of yours as I'd hoped."

"_James_!" Lee snapped at him, frustrated and embarrassed. He had been the one to ask about this. Though for some reason she had felt like answering.

She turned her back to him and started tidying his room again, this time with more gusto than before. When James took a step forward, she ignored him. At least until he placed a hand on her shoulder, forcing her to turn around and look at him. She made sure to display her emotions, glaring daggers at him as she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Look. You know Dante better than I do, and even _I_ know that that guy would rather kill himself than harm an innocent person, especially you. If it ever were to happen, and somehow I doubt that, then it'd be more likely that it would be _for_ you, not _against_ you. He'd protect you, not hurt you. And you know that as well, but still you're doubting him for some reason." James took a step back before bending down to gather some more magazines in his arms. "I believe I've said too much now. If Dante left you on your own while you were having such thoughts, I bet he'd meant for you to figure it out by yourself."

That earned him a look of awe, and now it was his turn to quirk a brow at her. She couldn't remember him having done so ever before.

It only took him a few moments before a grin broke out across his face. "Well, consider it a gift from me, to thank you for all you've done for me. And because you deserve to be happy, no matter how dense you can be."

Yes, she felt proud of him in that moment, but that didn't give him the right to call her dense. She made sure to convey these thoughts by raising her foot and planting her heel on his toes. After pulling a yelp from the man, she let out a triumphant harrumph and went back to work.

These thoughts would probably never leave her. But thinking about it, James had spoken the truth. Dante did make her happy, and she found being near him worth the risk of her fear ever coming true. And even if it did happen, the two of them would somehow manage to get through it all. What had James said only a short while ago? He didn't care what the future might hold, as long as he could share it with Anna? Her burdens would be his to bear? If a pansy like him could make such a promise, then surely Lee could do so as well, right?

* * *

For some reason, cleaning always had a meditative effect on Lee. It not only cleared her surroundings of clutter, it also rid her mind of any unwanted thoughts, albeit temporarily. Thus she found herself in a state of tranquillity as she walked down the street. She was making her way to Dante's shop in the hope that she'd find the man himself somewhere nearby. Waiting for him to find her and listen to her answer didn't seem like a smart thing to do with the way things stood. She had decided to bring her response to him instead.

Were it any other day, she would have been going over and over what she would say to him once she got there. She would have found the perfect formulation of her thoughts, only to forget the exact words as she tried to reproduce the sentence and be forced to think of another way to say what was on her mind. Today, however, since her brain had taken on a state of peace and quiet, she did no such thing and simply let her feet guide her towards that which had frightened her at first. After all, her initial encounter with Dante hadn't been the best, what with the cluttered state of his house. Yet another peculiarity she would have noted if she hadn't been in this state of mind.

Digging her hands deeper into her coat pockets to ward off the cold around her, she quickened her pace. It had stopped snowing for a while, and she didn't want to get caught in yet another sudden downpour as she made her way to Devil May Cry. In fact, she would have been happy if winter just disappeared altogether. The worst cases always seemed to take place in winter for some reason.

Lee was just about to cross a street when a shiver ran up her spine. Freezing to the spot, she wondered whether she was just cold, or...

Before she could finish the thought, a hand clasped over her mouth. Her fingers twitched and made a desperate attempt to grasp her guns, but by then she had already been swallowed up by darkness.


	28. Starscapes

**[A/N]: **I am literally just pantsing right now. I have no clue what's going to happen o_o

* * *

A weak smile graced her lips as she looked up at him. He returned it and gave her hand that he had secured in his grasp a squeeze, as if to tell her that all would be just fine. With his free hand, he brushed strands of her hair out of her face, after which she thanked him. Her voice sounded raspy from disuse.

The tender moment was interrupted by the door that someone opened, slamming it against the wall. Both occupants looked up in surprise, only to relax when they recognised the intruder.

"Ah, Dante," James greeted the newcomer, "what are you doing here?"

The devil hunter looked as though that should have been obvious. After glancing around, he realised that perhaps it hadn't been that obvious after all. "Has she gone to the toilet?"

"Who?" After a moment of confusion, James corrected himself. "Oh, you mean boss! I haven't seen her all week. The last time was when we got kicked out of the hospital. When she left I had actually presumed that she'd go straight to you... You mean, she didn't?"

"Nope." The puzzlement remained as both men stared at each other.

Then, all of a sudden, a thin voice floated through the air. "Maybe something's wrong?"

As if James had forgotten her existence, he turned back to his girlfriend, waving his arms about in a frantic manner.

"Don't you worry about your sister! She's fine. Dante will make sure of it," he said, trying to reassure her. He shot a look at the half-demon that spelled many painful things for him if he didn't comply. "Won't he?"

The man in question raised an eyebrow, almost challenging the boy to try and harm even a white hair on his head. Just to please the woman in the room, he nodded. "You can count on it."

* * *

Blackness all around her. Shadow lurked wherever she looked. For a moment, she wondered whether she was having that dream again, but when her eyes adjusted themselves to the lack of light, she realised she sat in a small room.

Handcuffed to a chair.

Naked.

And drugged. Thankfully, too, for she didn't want to know what her reaction would have been to everything had she not felt the vaguely familiar drowsiness keep her from completely resurfacing into consciousness.

Still, she wasn't so far gone yet that she did not recognise the urgency of the situation. She remembered fainting all of a sudden after being grabbed. There had been several more times she woken up before, though she couldn't remember much, if anything at all, of those moments.

She tried to move about and found that the cuffs tying her wrists to the back of the chair had been closed too tight to allow her to slip out of with ease. She could always break her thumbs, especially while she still happened to be drugged, but the uncertainty of people who might be nearby stopped her from doing so just yet. If she were to escape then she didn't want to get recaptured.

With her eyesight completely adjusted to the gloom surrounding her, a quick look around taught her more than just the size of the room. It had no windows, and a light bulb hung from the ceiling. Its switch was situated next to the only door to the room. Her chair had been placed with its back to the opposite wall, so the door was right in front of her. Tilting her head to the side and trying her very best to ignore the loud, sluggish noise of her heart beating inside of her head, she attempted to discern any sounds from outside of the room. There appeared to be no traffic and no people nearby, but she couldn't be sure whether she was just too far gone to notice or whether the place had actually been deserted.

Before she could plan any further, however, her eyelids grew heavy. Her body suddenly giving in to euphoric bliss, she sagged forward with such force that, chair and all, she toppled over. She fell in a spiralling manner, somehow managing to land on her shoulder instead of her head. The drugs that filled up her system prevented her from feeling any real discomfort, and so she drifted off to sleep again.

* * *

Scratching his head, Dante stood before the house, waiting for the door to open. When it remained closed, he looked around to see if there was anybody nearby before digging up the key she had given him a while ago. Whether or not she had planned on having him return it he had no idea, but for now he would make good use of it.

Once inside, he closed the door behind him, making not a single sound in the process of doing so. Then he tilted his head and listened, despite the fact that he already knew nobody had been inside this building for approximately a week. He could still hope, couldn't he?

When, as predicted, silence greeted him, he decided to venture further into the house. Just to be sure. Who knew, he might have grown old all of a sudden and lost part of his senses. He was no longer the youngest man around, after all.

He found the kitchen as he had expected it: clean and deserted. Not a single dirty dish in sight. The garden hadn't been set foot in for a few days, either. On his way up the stairs, what little hope he had secretly been harbouring slipped away, like ashes falling through fingers.

Dante placed his palms against the wood of the door, hesitating before pushing it open and entering the bedroom. The memory of his previous stay still managed to sting him, even though he could understand her point of view. He had also known why she had tried her best to keep her feelings hidden from him, but that hadn't been of any help in that moment. He had never hated himself more than in those few seconds of hesitation on her part.

It surprised him how much power she held over him, even though she herself didn't realise it. As he made his way into the room and looked around to find it as he had expected, he almost thought it funny how naive someone like her could be. He continued to walk until his shins hit the edge of her bed. Somehow the sight of it surprised him; she had put clean sheets on it since the last time he had been here, all signs of use gone. Almost as if what had happened in the past hadn't taken place after all; the wiping away of memories. As if this hadn't been the place where her words had almost crushed his heart.

Pushing those thoughts out of his mind, Dante once more concentrated on the situation at hand. She had found her answer, or so James had seemed to imply when he told Dante that she had wanted to meet him. He knew she wasn't a coward, that she wouldn't hide away from him because of something like this. Which meant that her absence couldn't be her own doing.

Now Dante _had_ to admit that his first theory had been right. Either some criminal had really bad timing, or Atlas had managed to get a hold of her. He must have gotten rather desperate, to make such a bold move in broad daylight. And then again, perhaps they should have expected something like this. They had gotten rid of his demon slaves, after all.

The devil hunter pulled out his phone and began to search James's number.

* * *

She didn't know how many times she had woken up in the meantime, but this time she was able to pull her mind out of its slumber because something had changed. She no longer lay on the floor, and it seemed that she had company.

The Chief stood before her, holding her arm in one hand and a needle in the other. He had wrapped a piece of cloth around her bicep and now busied himself with finding a vein in which to insert whatever drugs he had at his disposal. The pathetic light bulb didn't help him at all, but he seemed to be in a patient mood.

With her system no longer supporting any substances that didn't belong there, she could see her surroundings with surprising clarity. Whatever panic attempted to bubble up, she squished violently before it could take hold of her.

On the other hand, she now felt the weariness in her body. Her mouth was dry and it hurt to swallow, because she hadn't had a lot of water to drink since being captured. Next to that, her stomach had given up growling in hunger, opting to preserve the energy that would have cost for other things.

Chief, or should she say _Atlas_, noticed that she had opened her eyes, and his lips turned into a smile. It was such an affectionate yet sad expression, as though he were taking care of a sick loved one. Administrating a necessary evil for the greater good.

Behind that look, however, she could see his eagerness burning at the prospect of having her awake and, for now, fully conscious. He wanted her to be frightened, or at the very least angry. Perhaps even confused, or shocked. He wanted her to ask questions; questions any normal person would ask in a situation like this. 'What are you doing to me?' 'Why are you doing this?' 'What's going to happen to me?'

But she remained silent and calm, watching his movements with a calculating gaze that, for once, caused _him_ to feel uneasiness at _her_ presence. At seeing him falter for a split second, she had to do her best to hide her smugness. How did he like it? The shiver that ran through his body, the hair on the back of his neck raised?

Acting as if nothing had happened, he replied to the inquiries she never made. "I bet you're wondering what I'm planning on doing."

He waited a short while, hoping for some kind of reaction from her as he continued to twist her arm this way and that, though she didn't give him this pleasure. Her other hand had remained cuffed to the chair, but she doubted she even had enough energy to free the arm that Atlas held in his hand.

Of course she hid this fact from her captor and simply continued her stony glare directed towards him, which caused him to get on with whatever he planned on doing. "I thought of raping you, but found that I'd have to involve someone else for this, which would've been a hassle. You humans are so squishy, I can't understand how your race is doing so well, overpopulation threatening the planet and all that."

His next pause only lasted a few seconds. He had already stopped hoping for a reaction.

"Then I wondered whether I should just cause an overdose, but that seems like a very... ordinary way to go as a human. Plus, I wonder how much pain one would actually go through. And then there's the problem of the chance of survival being too large. Then perhaps I should just give you too much of this shit so that I can bring you back. That would be rather uncomfortable, but say that you're lucky, or unlucky, whichever you prefer, and _do_ die in one go. What a dilemma."

Then what did he plan on doing now? She couldn't stop herself before the question had been asked in her mind, and she began to burn with both curiosity and fear. He obviously wanted her to suffer after everything she had done, but what use could keeping her drugged possibly have?

The demon had finally found what he needed, plunging the needle into her skin and inserting the drug into her system. She hoped he would continue talking, so that perhaps he would reveal something else. But he remained silent, placing the needle to the side and watching her reaction as she could already see the effects it had on her vision.

He began to click his tongue, almost in disappointment. "It surprises me to find out that someone like you has done this kind of thing before. I wonder what that boyfriend of yours will think when he finds out that you haven't been the good girl you always claimed to be."

Squeezing her eyes shut, she couldn't defend herself against the wave of panic that washed over her now that her mind had been altered like this. The thought of Dante finding out about that part of her, of which she wasn't exactly proud, combined with the danger of the situation took over. She began to struggle against her bonds, against the demon's hand as he tied her other hand to the back of the chair as well, but her movements became sluggish and delayed. Chief even chuckled at her attempts, before he got up and left.

* * *

His eyebrows dipped down into a frown, Dante felt his frustration grow with each passing minute. He stood in front of the house which James had told him should have been the demon's home, but that, too, was empty. He hadn't even tried to hide his presence from any potential monsters, had thought that would make the whole thing easier. Yet here he stood, outside once more after having combed through the entire building several times, his investigation fruitless. There hadn't been any basements, no hidden doors, no garden in which a bunker of sorts could have been built. The neighbourhood consisted only of other houses which all looked the same, and Dante knew for sure she couldn't be anywhere nearby. He had made sure of that.

But she had to be _somewhere_. She couldn't have vanished into thin air.

That thought stopped him dead in his tracks.

What if she had?

* * *

The very moment she woke up once again, her mind was set on escaping. She didn't want to remain here any longer than necessary, especially now that Atlas had revealed that, whatever he planned on doing, it would be painful. A fog remained behind, covering her mind, and for this she was glad as she brought her hands together and tried to reach out for her thumb. She didn't give herself enough time to think this through, wanted to get out here as soon as possible, and so she began to pull and twist her finger, trying her very best not to think of what she was trying to do.

Even with the drugs making everything seem far away, the sudden pain caused by the dislocation made her yelp, tears gathering in her eyes. She forced herself to take deep breaths, to stop the world around her from swirling about, though she didn't know if that was even the fault of her thumb.

When she felt steady enough, she carefully slipped her hand from the cuff and got up at once. She didn't bother investigating the room before making her way to the door, albeit a bit unsteady on her feet, for you knew that you wouldn't find anything of interest. Escaping was her priority, and if she could find something for her finger then that would be a nice bonus.

Impatient, she opened the door as quick as she could without making any noise, but the sight before her forced her to take a step back. Wherever she was, this place couldn't possibly be considered Earth.

This world had literally been turned upside down.


	29. Wasted

**[A/N]: **damn, it's been a whole month since the last update. Pardon me for that. Thankfully there are only one or two more chapters to come, so maybe I'll be able to get the next bits written faster. By the way, you all should check out the song "Salt of the Earth" by Lovedrug, which was featured in the Last of Us or something. Seriously helped me with the end of this cursed chapter.

* * *

The sight before her forced Lee to take an unsteady step back. Fingers curled around the doorknob tightened their grasp as though that were the only thing keeping her anchored to sanity. Something which seemed almost impossible as she took in her surroundings.

What had seemed like a mere shack, or a rundown house, ended up being more like a room in what looked like some kind of courtyard. More buildings surrounded her to the left, the right and to the front, on the other side of what might once have been a bounteous, lush garden. Now only barren wasteland filled the small field.

The blue sky she expected to see when she looked up had been replaced with something unnaturally red. It gave her the feeling of pressing down on her, as if a pressure tried to squash her. Even then, other platforms of sorts blocked her view of most of the redness, pieces of rock and ground hovering above her, adorned by buildings that must have been of the same kind as the one she currently found herself in.

Without thinking, Lee closed the door and pressed her bare back to the cold wood. She sank to the ground and inhaled deeply, ignoring the stale smell filling her nose. Perhaps this just happened to be a hallucination, the effect of the drugs on her mind. As time passed by, it became increasingly difficult to keep up this train of thought, especially when she realised that the odour filling the air reminded her of blood.

Just then, she registered the sound of something dripping. At first, her whole body went rigid at the new noise before she reprimanded herself. It had probably been there all along; she just hadn't noticed it until now. Still, combined with the smell that by now almost had her gagging as it seemed to become stronger with every passing moment, one could consider the images her mind conjured less than cheerful.

Knees weak and legs shaking, she pushed herself back up with the help of the door. Her vision began to swim, but she ignored it. Someone had been able to bring her here, wherever 'here' was, which meant she could also find her way back. Somehow.

She opened the door again and shot a quick look into the courtyard, counting one... two... three... four other doorways before she left the room. With her back pressed against the stone wall, she made her way to the room to the right, almost slipping a few times as she did so. When she tried to enter it, she found it to be locked, and the only other doors were on the opposite side of the garden.

Why did this place have so much room when the owners, whoever or whatever they were, had only put in a few doors?

Whatever the case, if she ever wanted to get out of here she would have to make her way around the courtyard. The coolness of the stones beneath her feet helped her remain in the present, her drugged mind threatening to lose its concentration on several occasions.

Halfway to the other side, her feet forced her to her hands and knees, the swaying of her body almost causing her to topple over. There she sat for what must have been a few minutes, the sound of her heart beating erratically almost deafening as she continued to pant, sweat and shiver on the ground.

What was she going to do? What _could_ she do? There had to be a way out of here, right? But where would she find it? How would she... open it? Would it look like a simple door, or perhaps one had to teleport oneself here and back?

By now, Lee had accepted the fact that she most likely found herself in the infamous demon world. Chief/Atlas had probably brought her here to make finding her harder for Dante. He couldn't exactly take his sweet time torturing her when a certain half demon was hot on his heels, now could he?

Swallowing hard, she pushed herself back to her feet. Her body still trembled all over, but she felt fit enough to continue once more. She didn't want to stay here any longer than necessary.

The smell of blood had gotten worse as she crossed the area, and she felt the need to throw up as she opened the first door she reached. Whatever caused this smell, this room contained it. She almost turned away and went on to the next door, but the possibility of what she needed being in this room prevented her from leaving.

Taking in a deep breath, Lee counted to three before throwing the door open, the stench from inside practically hitting her like a brick wall, causing her to stumble to the ground. She pressed her hands against her mouth and nose as she tried to peer into the chamber through tear filled eyes.

Thankfully, whatever produced the stench looked to be dead, a mound of flesh and bones that lay in the corner. Who knew what it used to be, whether human or animal or... demon. She tried not to think about how she might have suffered the same fate if she hadn't freed herself. She hadn't escaped yet, so she just might have been looking at her future anyway.

A quick look around taught her that nothing inside could help her, though her gaze fell on a large piece of cloth on the ground. For a few moments, she contemplated whether it would be worth it to fetch it and use it as a piece of clothing. For once, however, her mind didn't feel like thinking things through. Her body was cold and, despite the smell of the cloth, it would probably provide warmth, no matter how little.

Thus Lee found herself crawling farther into this nightmare, one hand pressed against her face while the other reached out to grab the stained cloth. It looked like it had once been blue, but now it mostly sported a crimson colour. Though it smelled of blood and other things she didn't want to think about, she was lucky enough to be able to ignore it once she got used to it.

She first tore off a strip of cloth to bind her thumb in order to lessen the painful throbbing. Then she slung it over her shoulders and wrapping it around her form. Now less cold than before, she continued down the path to the next door. Breathing became a little easier with every step she took away from the dead body.

The moment her hand grasped the doorknob, it fell off. She stared at the object in her hand for a few moments before she realised what had just happened. When she did, she dropped it to the ground, wincing at the noise it made as it hit the stones. Pressing her hands against the wooden surface, she found that it opened as if by itself, the hinges omitting an ominous creak as it did so.

Ignoring the shiver in her spine caused by the sound, she noticed that this room looked lighter than the others she had seen until now. Perhaps some weird demon magic caused it, but she didn't pay it any more attention as she stepped into the space. A desk stood in the centre, and hooks had been inserted into one of the walls. Hundreds of keys must have hung from them, and in that moment she realised something rather crucial.

Why hadn't her prison been locked?

Just then, a chuckle filled the air.

It was all she needed to jump into action, making her way towards the desk to search for a hiding spot. The door closed itself behind her, but she had no time to ponder this.

On the surface of the desk stood an inkpot with a quill inside of it. Several blotches of dark ink stained the surface of the desk, though she could see no paper on which one would want to write. Next to the pot lay a few knives, their sharp sides jagged and covered with the blood of she didn't want to know what. She grabbed two of them before dropping to her knees and crawling into the space under the desk, pulling the chair that stood in front of it as close to her as possible.

Just in time, too, for the door swung open once more as soon as she had settled down.

Lee stopped breathing and listened to the footsteps, dread filling her when she counted four instead of two. Something with four legs would never not find her in a position like this. As if it would be of any help to her, she wrapped the fetid piece of cloth tighter around her frame and buried her head in it while she continued to count the steps taken in her direction. When the noise moved around to the front of the desk, her mind went blank with terror.

From the corner of her eye, she saw the familiar glint of a certain demon. With its height only its belly came into sight, though it had lowered its head to the ground and moved it about. It took her a few moments before she realised it was _sniffing_, and in a flash she remembered how she had managed to take out both its eyes a while back. Despite the hopelessness of the situation, in that moment she felt like she had a chance to get out of here. If she had somehow been able to damage its body, then she could kill it as well.

Atlas growled as if to curse before it turned and left the room, the door shutting with a slam.

She didn't know for how long she sat there, but she didn't dare to move as she waited for her heart to stop trying to break free from her behind your ribs. By then she had realised that Atlas relied mostly on its nose and any other demonic senses it might have had. Her finding this blanket had most likely saved her life, its smell turning out to be a blessing. Now she only had to hope that the demon didn't have any more lackeys in this... dimension.

After crawling out from under the desk, measly knives still in hand, she stared at the keys on the wall. Why did someone need so many of them in the first place? She doubted this many room could even be in this castle, or whatever it was, to begin with.

Maybe the key for that one door wasn't here. Perhaps the door just happened to be jammed. Then again, Atlas probably wouldn't lock her up in the room next to the one that offered her a way out of this place, right?

But _what if_...?

Heaving a sigh, she realised that she wouldn't win this fight with herself, so she stepped up to the wall and plucked as many of them from their hooks as she could carry, moving as fast as she could while making as little noise as possible. With a heap of them, and the knives, in her hands, she moved towards the door, pressing her elbow against the side of it to pull it open. She cringed at the creak it emitted and tried to compensate by crossing the yard as quietly as she could.

With trembling hands Lee reached the door where she knelt beside it to dump the keys to the cold stones, laying the knives to the side. After staring at the keys for a few seconds, she just grabbed one of them without thinking and tried to insert it into the keyhole, missing a few times due to the shaking of her arms. It didn't fit and so she placed it behind her while she picked up the next one.

Drops of sweat slid down her temple and into her eye, and her stomach began to churn once she had discarded half of the blasted keys. The smell of the makeshift cloak surrounding her became worse and she found herself gagging, pressing a calloused hand to her mouth and closing her eyes in an attempt to calm her nerves.

What if she didn't make it after all? It seemed impossible to get out a place like this, where demons might have been lurking around every corner. Just because she had managed to kill a few of those did not make her any better than all the other humans. And anyway, she had always gone to those battles prepared, or she had had Dante by her side.

Dante. What would happen to him if she failed? Would he even know where to find her, or her body? He would never get any closure. After all the trouble both of them had gone through to get here, only to have it end like this...

Lee shook her head at this thought before lifting her chin and glaring at the door in front of her. Determination filled her; barely there, but there nonetheless.

Reaching for another key, she worked her way through the rest of the pile, her sudden bravery waning with every time the lock wouldn't open. What if the one she needed still hung in the other room? What if it hadn't even been there in the first place? What if she was simply wasting her time?

That train of thought came to an abrupt halt once she had picked up the final key, but she wouldn't find out whether it fit the lock or not. Her senses had been dulled by the smell of her garment, by the despair which filled her and by the drugs that hadn't completely left her system just yet, and thus she realised she had company only when she heard the heavy footsteps behind her.

She gasped and, instinctively taking one of the bloodied knives with her, got to her feet. Turning around, back pressed to the wall, she came face to 'face' with the bane of her existence. The stones behind her provided much needed support as she took in that familiar, strangely human smirk on the demon's face, and her knuckles turned white, clinging to her weapon as though her life depended on it.

Still, what would one meagre blade do when her bullets had only managed to blind him? She couldn't even properly wield two of them in her current state.

Her body shook as she held her breath, willing it to work once more. She almost feared that Atlas could hear her heart racing in your chest, or that her trembling sent out minuscule movements in the air that would reveal her position. And why hadn't it said anything yet? It had always liked using its mouth, why would it suddenly choose silence over degrading her and the entire human race?

Whatever the case, fleeing was the best option she had in this situation. She eyed the final doorway and wondered how long it would take her to reach it. However, she still had this room she hadn't been able to check yet. What if this one really did contain the way out? What was the harm in checking it? Other than Atlas using the chance to kill her, perhaps.

A battle between body and mind; her mind begging your body to follow its lead while her body refused to do what it said. Not often did it happen that she wished her body had won the battle, for before she knew it she had pushed herself off of the wall, in the direction of the locked door.

The sound of her feet tapping against the ground and the rush of wind caused by her sudden movement attracted the demon's attention, its head snapping in her direction. She dared not to turn and look as she took the few steps towards the door, pressing the front of her body to it before she looked over her shoulder, only to see Atlas rushing towards her.

Grinning and trembling at the same time, Lee stood still for a few moments, trying to catch her breath as she did so. Too soon for her liking, however, she had to jump out of the way to miss being hit by Atlas's head as it collided with the wood of the door. It cursed just before she heard it run against another wall and she peered into the room only to be disappointed: a room, empty and even smaller than the one in which she had been kept. It looked barely big enough to contain Atlas, though she realised that it had somehow managed to change its size: this version of Atlas happened to be much smaller than the Atlas which she had always confronted, which had been able to fill up an entire alleyway.

Before Lee could flee, the demon's tail, waving around precariously, managed to graze her arm. She winced and pressed a hand against the scratches before she turned on her heel and ran in the direction of the last door, all the while trying her best not to think about the fact that she had most likely been poisoned by Atlas's thorns. Still, she felt much lighter now that she knew for sure nothing here could help her return to the normal world.

Once she reached the final doorway, she noticed that it looked more like a gate than a door. Unfortunately, she smacked against the iron bars, since she hadn't expected it to be locked. Not giving herself the time to panic about this, she wormed her way through the rods and barely succeeded in doing so. Just in time, too, for she could hear that Atlas had managed to get out of the room as well.

Without looking back she took off, passing doors that she didn't dare check with Atlas hot on her heels. She took corners almost at random, the smell of demons almost becoming unbearable as she thought she could hear heavy steps right behind her. Her feet ached, her eye - or lack thereof - hurt, and her thumb kept throbbing, but she ignored all of it. She didn't even acknowledge the rasping sound of her breath in her ears, didn't try to swallow because her throat would hurt.

And then she realised she had literally run into a dead end.


	30. Homebound

Pressing her hands against the wall before her, Lee had to do her very best not to burst into tears right then and there. Why did everything seem to want to give her a hard time? Why couldn't luck be on her side just this once? She had no idea what this poison would do, whether it would kill her within the hour or whether it would pass after a while.

She turned around and rested her back against the cool stones behind her as she rubbed the wound on her arm, which began to become numb. Though she didn't know whether she preferred the numbness to the burning sting from before, she had no time to contemplate this development as she heard something moving towards her. As she pressed herself into one of the corners beside her, trying to make herself as small of possible, the dim light reflected off of Atlas's scales, revealing its position to her.

"You know, I find it quite funny how you have changed over the course of our... interesting relationship," it began as it cautiously neared the end of the alley, its head tilting this way and that. "It seems you have finally gotten rid of that big mouth of yours. I wonder where it went. Perhaps that boyfriend of yours has managed to tame you?"

Lee let go of her arm and instead tightened her grip on the knife in her hands. She tried to formulate a plan of escape, willing herself to think of something because it wouldn't take long for Atlas to get here.

"Or perhaps you underwent some serious life changes when you realised that you, in fact, are a murderer. You're no better than all those people you've captured during your life. You kill in cold blood, just like they did."

Swallowing hard, she tried to ignore its words, though nevertheless her grip on her weapon relaxed.

"You treat that half-demon of yours as any other normal human being, after all. Why? Because he _looks_ like any other normal human being? But the demons you killed did too, didn't they? What makes killing them any different than killing an actual human, hm?"

Lee squeezed her eyes shut and, with as little noise as possible, took a deep breath. Atlas only wanted to upset her, to distract her from its advance. Nodding to herself, she once more tightened her hold on the knife. Still, she couldn't deny that Atlas had managed to shaken her resolve, but she should contemplate these things when she had managed to get out of here alive.

"I know you're here somewhere," it murmured and smirked.

In a desperate attempt to do _something_, Lee rushed towards the demon. Atlas looked taken aback by her head-on assault and actually stood still for a moment, unable to move as it waited for her blow.

She used its moment of stillness to her advantage and, just before reaching it, she slid to her knees. Atlas happened to be large enough for her to fit beneath him, and once she came to a halt between its front legs, she grunted and thrust her knife up into its chest. The demon let out a howl in response, but before it could move, she had pushed herself off the ground and into the direction of its hind legs, dragging the knife along with her as she went.

Going by the amount of blood that splashed down on top of her as she slid under Atlas's body, she had somehow managed to make quite a wound after all. Apparently that 'meagre' knife hadn't been so meagre after all.

Breathing heavily, Lee hadn't the strength left to pull her weapon out of the demon's guts, so instead she crawled out from underneath it before running off again, wincing at its yells of pain. Soon she would find out whether any other demons roamed the area, for the sounds Atlas emitted would surely attract the attention of anything in the near vicinity.

As the answering cries from other monsters filled the air, she held her numb arm against her body and tried her best to ignore the occasional muscle twitch. Soon, she would be out here and she would get it checked. Perhaps Dante would know what to do. And if not she didn't escape, she would most likely be dead. The poison wouldn't matter then.

Lee began to taste blood at the back of her mouth and knew she had exerted her body too much. Still, she couldn't possibly give up now. From paths to the left and right she heard horrible, inhuman noises combined with even worse stenches that spurred her on. Even though her body felt like falling apart, even though she had no idea where she was headed.

Rounding a corner, she stopped when she saw a couple of monsters almost clambering over each other to reach her first. Lee didn't wait to find out who would win, and took off in the opposite direction.

She managed to throw open a few more doors as she fled from the oncoming horde of demons, but found nothing of import behind any of them. She probably had to find one of those portals like Blackie had used with her. Though she had no idea what it had looked like, she knew for sure that something like that would stick out like a sore thumb, even in a place like this.

After what felt like eternity, her legs forced her to stop. Leaning against a wall, her gasping for air felt more like thousands of tiny needles slicing through her throat. At the same time her spleen felt like it would erupt if she took one more step, and the heaving of her chest wasn't exactly helping either.

The indescribable sounds from behind her spurred her back into action, albeit at a slower pace. Yet another wall came rushing towards her and before making the mistake of running into a dead end once more, she took a corner, only to bump into-

Barely holding back the high-pitched noise that almost escaped her mouth, Lee stared up at the demon before her. She immediately noted the differences between this one and the group of them chasing her, taking in the brightly glowing mark that spread out across its chest and down its abdomen. Its eyes, which had the same yellow shine, stared down at her in an almost calm manner, as if calculating her response while she took in its scales and claws.

When the demon reached a hand out to her, she took a step back, biting her tongue in order to stop herself from giving her panic a voice. It stopped moving its hand towards her and seemed to hesitate for a split second. Just as it began to pull its arm back, its head snapped up all of a sudden.

This time without waiting for her reaction, it took hold of her numb arm and pulled her behind it with one hand. In the split second before she came face to face with its back, she noticed that in the other it held a strangely familiar sword, which in her moment of confusion didn't quite jog your memory.

Pulling her along, it walked straight into the horde which had been after her. They looked up in surprise at this development, if that was even possible. In the split second of their inaction, the demon which seemed to be on Lee's side had hoisted her onto its back, jostling her with the surprising speed of its movements. With its sword aimed to the front, it almost seemed to glide across the floor as if by itself, piercing through everything that stood in its path. At the end of the line, it turned to face the few remaining monsters, hacking, slashing and slicing at anything that tried to move out of the way.

All the while, it kept one arm wrapped around her, securing her position against its back. As she watched in disbelief at the power this creature beneath her exercised, dizzy because of its quickness, she realised it had a tuft of white hair on the top of its head. In this moment she also saw how its red scales vaguely resembled a certain half-demon's coat, and she stiffened.

A slight twitch in his arm told her it hadn't gone unnoticed. Her limbs, which she had curled up against her chest, found their way around his neck and, slowly, she forced herself to relax again. Everything would be just fine. She would be able to process everything when she got home. For now, she could only be glad that he had managed to make it in time.

All this happened as he dispatched of the few remaining demons which had been trying to tear her to pieces moments ago.

Even before the last one had turned into a pile of ashes, Lee turned to see Atlas making its way towards the two of them. The arm that still held her in place tightened its hold on her as the demon moved closer.

While the distance between Atlas and them diminished, the pitiable state of the demon became obvious and Lee winced at the sight of the gash she had left behind. It had stopped bleeding, but it looked as though it could open up again the very moment Atlas made even the slightest wrong move.

"So I guess your boyfriend found you after all," Atlas said, stopping its advance and instead opting not to come any closer.

Despite the space that still remained between the two parties, in the blink of an eye Lee came face to face with the demon. This time, however, she feared nothing, though she did feel a little sick because of the sudden jump.

Dante pressed his lips into a thin line before he lifted his sword and, in one swift motion, separated the demon's head from its neck. It fell to the ground with a dull _thump_, a sound that seemed so finalising that had she been in a better shape, Lee might have had some semblance of feeling that this was a job well done.

Without waiting around any longer, he turned and made his way back to where he came from. With what little energy Lee had left, she turned to look behind her and watched as the form of what had become her nightmare began to crumble. Even before it had completely disappeared, Dante turned a corner and a wall blocked her sight.

Relief filled her, relief at the fact that this whole ordeal was now over, but at the same time she felt conflicted. If Dante had been able to kill Atlas just like that, then why had he waited this long to do so?

She already knew the answer to that, though.

Because of her . Because he hadn't wanted her to see him like this.

A deep rumbling noise could be heard all of a sudden, but Dante didn't wait around to find out where it came from. Not long after, everything began to shake; rocks and dust fell down here and there, narrowly missing them. Apparently with its host dead, this floating platform of sorts was destined to fall apart, and the two of them would disappear along with it.

Lee squeezed her functioning arm tighter around Dante's neck, even as she could see the flicker in his appearance. Whatever this form of his was, he couldn't keep it up much longer.

As he made his way through the trembling building, he never once removed his arm from around her, instead lifting his hand with his sword in an attempt to shield them from the falling debris. He stopped trying to keep his speed accustomed to her and practically flew down the hall instead.

Just as she could hear the walls behind them cave in, could feel the floor disappear beneath them, a bright light blinded her, forcing her to shield her eye from what appeared to be the normal sky. Coughing at the dust which had managed to attach itself to her, she felt as though the world had begun to rotate twice as fast.

"L-lemme go..." she mumbled, and almost fell back when Dante did as she asked. Once released, she sank to her knees and pressed her hand into the dirt beneath.

Somewhere in the distance she could hear two voices talking. To each other or to her, she didn't know. In the centre of her swirling surroundings, a blade of grass stuck out of the earth in which she had dug her nails, and the sudden realisation of _everything_ came crashing down. Tears welled up in her eye and dripped down to the ground, darkening patches of soil. The voices became more urgent but she ignored them.

Pain shot up her otherwise numb arm and she choked back a sob at the sudden burn. Hands touched her, turned her so that her back hit the ground and blue surrounded her.

And then all went black.

* * *

**[A/N]: **so let me just say that this is the final chapter. NOW BEFORE YA'LL KILL ME, there will be an epilogue. Better yet, despite promising myself and everyone in the whole frigging universe that this will be my last fanfiction for a while, I've decided that I will be writing a sequel after all. Can't resist Dante, after all. But more details on that will be posted with the epilogue (which will be tomorrow).


	31. Epilogue - Horizons

A yell fills the crisp night air, followed by the sound of hastily taken footsteps. The person to whom they belong runs across the street, not bothering to look for any oncoming traffic, before diving into a nearby road. More than once they neglect to lift their feet properly, resulting in several stumbles. They curse as their jeans tear at their knees, blood from scraping over the stones staining the cloth.

Still, they will not give up. They get up again and flee from the invisible, from the darkness. From the shadows that keep chasing them. Only the sound of bins clattering to the ground indicates the fact that something is actually following them, but they do not stop to find out what it could actually be.

Panting, they turn a few corners and slump against a wall in order to catch their breath. After a few moments they stop to hold it again so that they can listen and find out whether their pursuer still chases after them.

All remains quiet and only the wind blows softly, the last leaves on the trees rustling in the distance. Here and there a car passes nearby. Other than that, they can hear nothing.

They heave a sigh of relief before getting up and inching to the opening of the alley so that they can check if the coast is clear. But even before they can reach the corner, something crashes into them and they fly back until they hit a wall, the pressure against their throat preventing them from screaming. All that comes out is a croak, the sound filled with panic and fear.

It is then that they see what is in front of them, and they can only describe it as a monster. It snarls at them, its face inching closer to their face, its mouth opening to reveal a pair of inhumanly sharp teeth.

They are going to die. They are going to die today. They still have so much to do with their lives.

Before the distance between their face and that of this monstrosity can disappear, gunshots ring out and echo in the narrow alley, followed by more footsteps coming closer.

"Hey, why didn't you wait for me?! I could've handled it just fine," a voice calls out as the monster's ugly face disappears. Its captor, gasping for air, slides to the ground, head held in their hands.

"Because you were too fucking slow," another pipes up. "If I had waited for you, we would've been too late."

The person sitting on the ground at the other end of the alley stares at the woman with the black eyepatch and the man with the red trench coat.

A certain detective holsters her gun - a new one since she had lost everything else - and, without glancing at her partner, makes her way to them.

"It ain't my fault _somebody_ had to clean up the shop and misplace my jacket," Dante replies as he follows her with his hands in his pocket.

"You could've just gone out without it. It's not like you'd actually get cold or anything."

"Are you kidding me?! I can't be seen outside like that! Only you get to see me in such a state of undress."

"James sees you without it all the time."

"That's different. That doesn't count, and you know it."

Ignoring Dante, Lee kneels before the most likely traumatised victim who is still shielding their face. "You all right?"

The person's shaking lessens and they look up through their fingers, relief obvious in their gaze as they realise that they are no longer in danger. They nod their head before Lee reaches out to give them an awkward pat on their shoulder, mindful not to get any closer to them. Person bubble and all that.

"Should I call James? He's gonna like another one. It's not like he does any actual work at the office," Dante offers, whipping out his phone even before she can answer.

"You do know he's going to have his revenge when he becomes chief, right?"

"_If_ he becomes chief," Dante mutters to himself as he starts to dial the number.

While he busies himself with calling James, Lee turns to face this poor person. No longer close to hysteria, they stare at the ground, most likely recalculating everything they have ever known in their life. She feels pity for them, knowing exactly what it is like to be in this position.

She looks back at Dante, who now stands with his back to her. Though it all happened years ago, some days she still thinks back to the few flashes she can remember of what happened after she became unconscious that particular day.

Dante had been there, and so had James. She vaguely remembers hearing James confront Dante after witnessing his peculiar form, which she later learned to be what he called his 'Devil Trigger'. Then the scenery changes to a vividly blue sky, a strange contrast to the red one you had seen. The blue turns into white, then goes back to blue, but a different kind than before.

The memories, and not just these, come to her in her dreams, or on particularly slow days during the winter, most often when it has been snowing. Sometimes, when she pushes herself too far, the scar on her arm flares with pain. Sometimes, she believes a dark figure looms over her, the hairs on her neck stand on end and she enters a state called 'hypervigilance'.

Posttraumatic stress disorder, her psychiatrist told her. It started with sudden anger outbursts in which more often than not she lashed out at Dante - both physically and emotionally. He understood, knew she needed time to process it all and gave her all the time he thought she needed and then some.

When Anna - who had survived the whole ordeal though will be stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of her life - fell victim to one of Lee's outbursts, she realised that something had to be done. Dante dragged her along to some friend of his, with whom she, after much coaxing, talked about everything that had happened. She told him about the flashbacks and the memories, the bouts of anger. When she began to avoid Dante and anything else that had to do with demons, he laid down the cold, harsh truth: PTSD.

Knowing the cause for her behaviour did not cure her it, however, and it took her many months before she could look Dante in the eye and not be reminded of _that _side of him. Before she could look him in the eye and instead of fear, feel relief, wonder and confusion at the fact that he hadn't run off when he had the chance and the perfect reason to do so. Whatever doubts she had had prior to that moment, they all vanished when she realised that this man would never let her down, no matter what happened.

Some symptoms will never disappear, but now she knows that, with him by her side, it doesn't matter anyway.

"Y'know, I appreciate the staring and all, but it's starting to get really unsettling now."

Lee blinks a few times before turning her head back to the victim, who is now examining her in an almost curious fashion, in order to hide the smile on her face. "Yeah, well, your whole appearance is quite unsettling so let's call it even."

Dante laughs at her words and, holding his hand out for her to take, says, "Come, the kid said if we take longer than five minutes then he's going back to bed. And you know how he needs his beauty sleep."

She take his hand and step out of the way to let him help the victim off the ground.

"You desperately need yours too but that never stops you from bothering me all night."

"Oh, shush. I've never heard you complain."

"I am right now."

"Huh, what did you say? I didn't quite catch that."

"Yes, let's conveniently forget you have super hearing."

"Love you too~!"

_From her bed you'll hear her say:  
"There are horizons,  
Floating in my brain."  
From her world you'll feel her say:  
"Tell me your story,  
I don't want to feel my pain."  
So I said:  
"Build off of the record off of my head."_

* * *

**[A/N]:** IT IS DONE! And that makes me kinda sad. But also happy, because yey for finished stories! But because I feel like Dante is not yet willing to let go of me, or the other way around, I am planning on writing a sequel. It probably won't be any time soon because for now I'm going to focus on my novels, and it most likely won't be as long as this one. It will take place between the last chapter and this epilogue, so in other words I'll be concentrating on Lee's PTSD and her transformation from traumatised to devil hunter, which I personally feel hasn't come across the way I wanted it to in this chapter.

Anyway, for now I hope everyone enjoyed reading this fic. Thank you all very much for sticking around this long and for all the lovely reviews! Special thanks to Jeralee, HeavenlyCondemned and revolverwild for all the support you've given me throughout the story ;D Have a good one! *wipes tear away***  
**


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